Manitoba dropped its first game at the Canadian men’s curling championship Wednesday when Jason Gunnlaugson lost 3-0 to Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs.
Manitoba and Glenn Howard’s Wild Card Three were tied atop Pool A at 5-1 each with a game in hand on Jacobs at 5-2.
Northern Ontario’s victory tied a record for the lowest combined score in Brier history and was the lowest-scoring game in over two decades.
Wild Card Three, with Wayne Middaugh filling in at skip for an injured Howard, got by New Brunswick’s James Grattan 7-6 in an extra end.
New Brunswick fell to 4-3, while Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher got to 4-2 with a 9-3 win over Mike McEwen’s Wild Card One.
British Columbia’s Steve Laycock doubled Gregory Skauge of Northwest Territories 10-5. Laycock and McEwen were both 2-4 and Skauge was 1-4.
The top four teams in each pool advance to the championship round starting Friday and take their records with them.
The championship round’s top three are Sunday’s playoff teams. The No. 1 seed earns a bye to the evening final to face the winner of the afternoon semifinal.
Kevin Koe’s Wild Card Two was the first team to book a berth in the championship round with a sixth-straight win Wednesday.
The Calgary foursome stopped Pool B at 6-0 with a game against Ontario’s John Epping (4-2) at night.
Koe thumped Saskatchewan’s Matt Dunstone 9-2, which dropped Dunstone to 4-2 alongside Ontario and defending champion Brad Gushue.
Gushue was an 8-4 winner over Prince Edward Island’s Eddie MacKenzie in the morning draw. Epping fell 10-7 to Quebec’s Michael Fournier, who improved to 4-3.
Newfoundland and Labrador’s Greg Smith got to 2-5 with a 9-2 win over winless Peter Mackey of Nunavut.
Nova Scotia skipped by Scott McDonald was 3-3, Greg Smith of Newfoundland and Labrador 2-5 and P.E.I. was 1-5.
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