KELOWNA -- Saskatoon’s Rylan Kleiter saw his run at the Montana’s Brier come to an end on Thursday afternoon.
Needing a pair of wins to have a shot at a playoff spot, Kleiter and his Nutana foursome of third Josh Mattern, second Matthew Hall and lead Trevor Johnson would go on to drop both of their final round robin games, losing 8-6 to Yukon’s Thomas Scoffin in the afternoon draw before falling 8-5 to Quebec’s Felix Asselin.
As a result, Kleiter finishes in seventh place in Pool B in his Brier debut.
It was a good start for Kleiter in his opening game Thursday, as a three-spot in the third end and deuce in the fifth gave his rink a 5-3 lead at the break. Scoffin would tie things up with a deuce in the sixth, though, and after Kleiter blanked the seventh, would steal two in the eighth for a 7-5 lead. The teams exchanged points the final two ends, and Scoffin had his two point win.
Unfortunately for the Tankard champions, that loss would knock them from contention.
That late ends proved to be the difference in the evening draw as well, with Kleiter scoring three in the sixth to take a 4-3 lead. Asselin took the lead for good with a deuce in the seventh and after Kleiter took one in the eighth, another Quebec deuce would make it 7-5, and Asselin would finish things off with a steal in the 10th.
Saskatoon’s Mike McEwen, third Colton Flasch, second Kevin Marsh and lead Daniel Marsh had already qualified for the playoff round and faced Alberta’s Brad Jacobs in a first-place showdown in their final round robin game, dropping a 9-6 extra-end decision.
As a result, McEwen finishes with a 7-1 record and in second place in Pool B and will see action in the Page Playoff 1-2 game on Friday afternoon.
After Jacobs took an early lead, the teams exchanged deuces in the third, fourth and fifth ends for a 4-3 McEwen lead. Jacobs tied the game in the sixth and stole another in the seventh to go ahead 5-4, and the teams would proceed to exchange single points the next two ends before McEwen tied things up in the 10th.
Jacobs then put the hammer to perfect use in the final end, scoring three for the win and a perfect 8-0 round robin.
McEwen will now face former Saskatchewan skip Matt Dunstone in the first round of the playoffs at 2:30 p.m. Friday after Dunstone defeated Brad Gushue in his final round robin game to finish 7-1 and atop Pool A. The winner of that contest advances to the Page Playoff 1-2 game on Saturday evening
The loser of that Page 1-2 qualifier will face Manitoba’s Reid Carruthers (6-2) in the Page 3-4 qualifier at 8:30 p.m. Saturday after Carruthers finished third in Pool A.
The other Page 1-2 qualifier will see three-time defending champion Gushue take on Jacobs, with the loser of that game taking on Nova Scotia’s Owen Purcell (5-3) in the Page 3-4 qualifier.
The Page 1-2 qualifier winners will play in the Page 1-2 game on Saturday at 8:30 p.m., with the winner advancing directly to the championship final and the loser dropping to the semifinal.
The Page 3-4 qualifier winners will play in the Page 3-4 game at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, with the winner there taking the other semifinal spot.
The semifinals will be played at 1 p.m. Sunday, followed by the Brier final at 7 p.m.
Be sure to keep up to date on the action on www.curling.ca and catch games from each draw on TSN.
