Alberta’s Kevin Koe off to strong start at Brier despite ‘weird’ preparation

ST. JOHN’S — Unorthodox preparation didn’t hamper Kevin Koe’s curling team to start the Montana’s Brier.

Alberta’s Koe, Tyler Tardi, Aaron Sluchinski and Karrick Martin won a fifth straight game and remained undefeated team atop Pool B after a pivotal 7-6 win over Manitoba’s Matt Dunstone on Tuesday evening.

The victory over Dunstone, the No. 2 men’s team in Canada, and Sunday’s win over No. 5 Mike McEwen of Saskatchewan put the Koe foursome on track to take the pool with three games remaining.

“With this format, the head-to-head is so, so important so that puts us in a real good place,” Koe said. “We’ve had them and McEwen, the top two ranked teams in our pool, so yeah, we’re looking good but we’ve still got a bit of a ways to go.”

Koe’s team out of the The Glencoe Club in Calgary won the provincial championship Jan. 11.

Tardi then joined the Brad Jacobs team as their alternate for February’s Olympic Games.

Sluchinski, who is Koe’s vice and throws second stones, was also at the Milan Cortina Games doing curling work for broadcasters.

So it was a long stretch without seeing each other before the Canadian men’s curling championship in St. John’s, N.L.

“It’s been weird coming into this,” Koe said. “We had such a long break, close to two months and Tyler and Aaron were over in Italy for the Olympics, so we didn’t practise once as a team until we got here.

“Everyone’s practised on their own. We’re feeling good, but we still feel like we can pick it up a little bit.”

Koe’s hit and roll behind cover in the ninth end ultimately forced Dunstone to take one and give up hammer with the score tied coming home. Koe drew the button against two Dunstone counters for the win.

Dunstone dropped to 4-1, while Saskatchewan’s Mike McEwen was 5-1 after an 11-10 victory in an extra end over B.C.’s Cody Tanaka.

Braden Calvert improved to 3-2 after a 10-6 win over Yukon’s Thomas Scoffin.

New Brunswick’s James Grattan was a 9-4 winner over Koe’s brother Jamie Koe of Northwest Territories to get to 3-3.

The top three teams in each pool of nine teams advance to Friday’s playoffs, which will determine the four Page playoff teams Saturday.

Sunday’s champion will represent Canada at the men’s world championship from March 27 to April 4 in Ogden, Utah.

Defending champion Jacobs and Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador were also undefeated atop Pool A with 5-0 records.

Quebec’s Jean-Michel Menard was 3-2 ahead of a logjam of teams at three losses: Nathan Young of Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario’s Jayden King, Saskatchewan’s Kelly Knapp and Tyler Smith of Prince Edward Island.

Koe is a four-time Brier winner and two-time world champion with different lineups. He last reached a Brier final in 2022 when he lost to Gushue.

His teams missed the playoffs the last two years, and went a shocking 2-6 in Regina in 2024.

“The last couple of years for sure have been disappointing, so this feels good,” Koe said. “We’re off to a good start, but it’s only going to get tougher from here.”

Tardi was still trying to find his post-Olympic second wind after the Jacobs team won gold in Cortina, Italy, less than a week before the Brier began in St. John’s.

“I’m not thrilled with how I’m throwing right now,” said the 27-year-old Tardi. “Even now it still feels like I got a lot of work to do to get back to my normal self.

“The Olympics was … I was expecting it to be very hard and it was way harder than I could have ever imagined. Super grateful to have experienced that and I’d love, love, love to go back, but I could not believe how emotionally, physically and mentally draining it was.”

The 51-year-old Koe led all skips in shooting percentage after Tuesday evening’s draw at 88 per cent.

“He cares about the Brier so much and he’s sure showing it right now, that he’s still got in him,” Tardi said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 3, 2026.