Gushue and Koe in stride at Tim Hortons Brier, Flasch win forces tiebreaker

Koe beat Prince Edward Island's Tyler Smith 8-3 on Thursday at the Enmax Centre to top the Pool A table at 7-1.

Shortly after securing first place in his pool with another comfortable round-robin win, Alberta’s Kevin Koe looked up at the media backdrop stand adorned with pictures of previous national men’s curling champions.

The veteran skip is holding the Tim Hortons Brier tankard in four of them. He has cleared the first hurdle in his mission to do it again.

READ MORE: Rinks chasing Brier Tankard, history in Lethbridge

“Lots of pride, I guess, to have won this four times,” Koe said. “Obviously, they’re great memories but the focus is obviously trying to win another. All of us having won it, it’ll probably help calm us a little.

“We know what to expect if we get into a situation to try to win another one hopefully.”

The first-place positioning gives Koe, third B.J. Neufeld, second John Morris and lead Ben Hebert some extra rest. They’ll get to skip the crossover playoff qualifier games Friday afternoon between the second- and third-place finishers in the two pools.

“We’re glad we’re there but now the real work begins,” Hebert said.

Canada’s Brendan Bottcher (7-1) was in second place after a 6-3 win over Nathan Young of Newfoundland and Labrador. Saskatchewan’s Colton Flasch (6-2) needed an extra end for a 9-8 win over Wild Card Two’s Matt Dunstone (6-2) to set up a Friday tiebreaker between the provincial rivals for the third and final playoff spot in Pool A.