Manitoba’s Jason Gunnlaugson and Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs earned victories Wednesday afternoon to qualify for the championship round at the Tim Hortons Brier.
Gunnlaugson beat Nova Scotia’s Jamie Murphy 9-7 and Jacobs dumped Nunavut’s Jake Higgs 10-3 at the Leon’s Centre.
Newfoundland and Labrador’s Brad Gushue beat Quebec’s Alek Bedard 10-4 and Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher defeated Prince Edward Island’s Bryan Cochrane 9-6 in the other Draw 13 games.
Bottcher led the Pool B standings at 7-0 and Gushue was next at 6-1. Gunnlaugson was third at 5-2 and Jacobs made the cut at 4-3.
The preliminary round at the national men’s curling championship wraps up Wednesday night with four Pool A games.
Team Wild Card’s Mike McEwen and Saskatchewan’s Matt Dunstone entered the evening draw with 5-1 records, but the two other Pool A spots were still up for grabs.
Team Canada’s Kevin Koe was at 4-2. New Brunswick’s Jamie Grattan and Ontario’s John Epping were 3-3 and British Columbia’s Steve Laycock and Jamie Koe of the Northwest Territories were 2-4.
If a tiebreaker is necessary, it will be played Thursday morning.
In the unlikely event of a four-way tie at 3-4, no tiebreakers would be played since the teams have sub-.500 records. In that case, the Northwest Territories would get the spot based on head-to-head records.
Earlier Wednesday, Newfoundland and Labrador beat P.E.I. 11-8, the Northwest Territories edged New Brunswick 8-6 and B.C. topped Yukon’s Thomas Scoffin 6-3.
The top four teams at the end of the championship round Friday night will advance to the Page playoffs.
The semifinal and final are set for Sunday.
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