It didn’t come without its share of nervous moments, but the home team is through to the next stage of the Brier after a 7-6 win over Prince Edward Island on Wednesday afternoon.
The two teams were tied 4-4 through seven ends before Manitoba took control with three in the eighth. PEI would score one with hammer in nine and steal one more in the tenth but it wasn’t enough to play spoiler and force Manitoba into a tiebreak situation.
With the win Manitoba, which includes Brandonite Derek Samagalski and former Brandonite Mike McEwen, will finish the initial round robin portion of the event in 3rd place in Pool A with a 4-3 record and have qualified for the Championship Pool. That record carries over into the next round, giving little margin for error if they are to advance beyond that into Saturday’s playoff round. Thursday’s schedule will see dates with two separate past World Champions, Brad Gushue and Team Canada during the afternoon draw followed by Kevin Koe’s Alberta rink in the evening.
Full coverage of the win can be found in the Sun’s (paywall-free) story at https://www.brandonsun.com/sports/curling/brier/McEwen-Manitoba-sneak-into-championship-pool-in-third-506788431.html
More on the upcoming draw can be found on the event website at https://www.curling.ca/2019brier
Updated, March 6 @ 10:55pm: Updated to reflect results of Wednesday evening draw