McEwen, Gushue land top seeds for Brier playoffs

The final four is set at the Tim Hortons Brier. Manitoba's Mike McEwen secured the top seed and will face No. 2 Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador, while the 3 vs. 4 playoff pits defending champ Kevin Koe against Northern Ontario's Brad Jacobs.

Kevin Koe, Jacobs round out final 4

Gregory Strong · The Canadian Press · Posted: Mar 10, 2017 12:27 PM EST | Last Updated: March 10, 2017

Manitoba skip Mike McEwen clinched the top seed with a 5-2 win over Quebec and will play Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador in the 1 vs. 2 Page playoff game on Friday night. (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press)

The final four is set at the Tim Hortons Brier.

Manitoba's Mike McEwen earned the top seed Friday morning in St. John's with a 5-2 win over Quebec's Jean-Michel Menard.

McEwen and Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador will meet in the Page playoff 1-2 game on Friday night after topping the standings with 9-2 records.

"I thought we were able to finish the week the way we started the week," McEwen said. "Our last three outings were really good. That's tremendous getting first place and hammer.

"I couldn't ask for anything more."

Gushue, who defeated Nova Scotia's Jamie Murphy 9-3, is seeded second since he lost to McEwen in round-robin play.

Canada's Kevin Koe beat Mike Kennedy of New Brunswick 7-6 to earn the third seed. Koe will play fourth-seeded Brad Jacobs of Northern Ontario in the Page 3-4 game on Saturday afternoon.

Both Koe and Jacobs finished round-robin play at 8-3.

The Page 1-2 winner advances to the final Sunday night while the loser falls into the semifinal. The 3-4 winner will advance to the semifinal Saturday night for a berth in the final.

The morning results knocked Menard and British Columbia's John Morris (both 7-4) out of the playoff picture and eliminated the possibility of tiebreaker games.

The Page 1-2 winner advances to the final Sunday night while the loser falls into the semifinal. The 3-4 winner will advance to the semifinal Saturday night for a berth in the final.

"I think we've had a good test leading into [the playoffs] with a few [teams] we've played against like Koe and Jacobs, those were playoff atmosphere kind of games," Gushue said. "The crowd was into it and we were into it.

"So it's going to be very similar to that, which is good for us because we've done it twice."

Howard gets standing O

Ontario's Glenn Howard scored a single in the 10th end for a 6-5 win over Jamie Koe of the Northwest Territories in the other morning game at Mile One Centre.

It was the 17th Brier appearance for Howard, who received a standing ovation after the game.

Menard finished tied with John Morris of British Columbia at 7-4. Saskatchewan's Adam Casey was next at 5-6, followed by Murphy and Howard at 4-7 and Alberta's Brendan Bottcher at 3-8.

Kennedy and Jamie Koe were tied at 1-10. The last-place finisher is no longer relegated to the qualifying round as the main draw for the 2018 Brier will be expanded to 16 teams.

The 3-4 loser and semifinal loser will play for bronze on Sunday afternoon. The Brier champion will represent Canada at the men's world curling championship next month in Edmonton.