Geoff Walker of Beaverlodge (second from right) and team Newfoundland and Labrador celebrate their Brier win in 2017 in St. John's, NFLD

By Shane Clausing

Brier preview

Brier preview: Koe looks for history; Walker and Gushue eye third title in four years

Feb 26, 2020 | 10:00 AM

The 92^nd edition of the Tim Horton’s Brier gets underway this weekend in Kingston, Ontario.

Calgary’s Kevin Koe, a former Grande Prairie resident, returns as the defending champion, after he defeated Brendan Bottcher’s Wild Card rink from Edmonton last year in Brandon, Manitoba.

Koe is chasing history as he looks for a fifth title as a skip, which would break the record he currently shares with Randy Ferbey, Kevin Martin and Ernie Richardson.

Koe’s lead Ben Hebert also has a chance at history to win his fifth Brier (his first two came with Martin). With a win, he and Koe would move into second place for most Brier championships only behind Ferbey, who also won twice as a vice-skip with Pat Ryan.

Bottcher’s rink won’t have to worry about qualifying as a Wild Card this year, as he will represent Team Alberta after qualifying through provincials earlier this month. Bottcher’s Edmonton rink defeated Karsten Sturmay in the final, a team which features Dawson Creek products Tristan Steinke and Jason Ginter

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Meanwhile. Brad Gushue is making his 17th Brier appearance. Featured on Gushue’s team is Geoff Walker from Beaverlodge. He is the lead on Team Gushue and says that his team is looking forward to the Brier.

“I think it’s going to be a great Brier, I think the field is as good as you can get,” said Walker. “There’s going to be a lot of real good games, and a lot of really competitive games that go right down to the wire, especially as the week goes on, it’s going to get tougher and tougher to win.”

Team Gushue has been able to stick with the same group of players for the last six years, and the consistency and success has shown. The team is eyeing it’s third Brier title in four years.

“I think we’ve built a good foundation with our team. We work well together, we work hard, and we’re only getting better every year,” explained Walker. “We don’t usually go out and get blown out very often. We’re pretty much in every game, and I think that’s the biggest thing, our consistency.”

While the main tournament begins on Saturday, the wild card game goes on Friday.

2017 Brier runner-up Mike McEwan from Manitoba faces off against former Brier champion in Ontario’s Glenn Howard for the right to play in the full event.

While this year’s tournament is full of great teams with loads of experience, there is always a chance for an upset. Walker says there is no easy game at the Brier.

“I think you’re going to see a team like Saskatchewan might get some teams by surprise, but there’s a lot of good teams throughout both pools,” said Walker. “Even the team out of Nova Scotia and Jamie Murphy, they’re capable of beating anybody. You might not know them because they don’t tour a lot, but they’re capable of beating any of the top teams. I think it’s going to be very competitive, and no game is going to be easy to win.”

Walker and Newfoundland/Labrador open their tournament on Saturday afternoon at 12:00 p.m. MT. against Team Manitoba. A full tournament schedule can be found here.