2015 Tim Hortons Brier


The 2015 Tim Hortons Brier was held from February 28 to March 8 at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
In the final, the team of Pat Simmons, John Morris, Carter Rycroft and Nolan Thiessen, representing "Team Canada" as defending Brier champions defeated the reigning Olympic gold medallist Brad Jacobs rink, representing Northern Ontario. Simmons had to make a draw to the button in an extra end to win the championship. With the victory, the Simmons rink went on to represent Canada at the 2015 Ford World Men's Curling Championship in Halifax, where they won the bronze medal.

Changes to competition format

For the first time, the event was expanded to include an entry from Nunavut, which has previously not participated in the Brier. Another notable change was having separate entries for the Yukon and Northwest Territories, which had historically competed as a single entry.
Starting with the 2015 tournament, the top ten teams automatically qualified to the main tournament, which was a competition between twelve teams as in years past. An eleventh team was the defending champions from the previous Brier who played as Team Canada. The four remaining unqualified teams played in a pre-qualifying tournament to determine the twelfth team to play in the main tournament.
It was the first time in the history of the Brier that a Team Canada partook, which essentially allowed the defending champions direct re-entry into the event. The skip of the previous year's winning team, Kevin Koe, formed a new team in the off-season and was not part of Team Canada. Koe won the 2015 Boston Pizza Cup with his new team and represented Alberta at the 2015 Brier. Koe's former teammates recruited John Morris to skip the first ever edition of Team Canada at the Brier. Morris was the runner-up from the previous year.
Similar changes were also implemented for the 2015 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, meaning that for the first time the Canadian men's and women's curling championships will be conducted using identical formats. Previous versions of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts differed from the Brier in that they included a Team Canada entry, but did not include a separate entry from Northern Ontario.

Teams

The teams are listed as follows:

CTRS ranking

The #1 ranked Mike McEwen rink lost in the Manitoba final.
Member Association RankPoints
2189.120
3174.950
4138.430
5132.315
6126.730
1178.555
1351.145
1449.075
1537.675
1733.000
NR0.000
NR0.000
NR0.000
NR0.000

Map of teams

Relegation playoff

Combined record of each province/territory from 2012 to 2014

LocaleWLLocaleWL
2581518
2581419
2491419
1914924
1716528
161700
1518 00

Nunavut declined to send a team while Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and the Yukon played a single round-robin at the Scotiabank Saddledome in order to determine which one of the three teams would qualify for the tournament. The teams with the two best records were to advance to the play-in game which was contested Saturday, February 28, concurrent with the opening draw of the Brier round-robin. However, each team finished the round robin tied with a 1-1 record which saw Nova Scotia eliminated based on pregame draws to the button. Prince Edward Island then defeated the Yukon to advance to the main draw of the tournament.

Round-robin standings

Round-robin results

All draw times are listed in Mountain Standard Time.

Draw 1

''Thursday, February 26, 7:00 pm''

Draw 2

''Friday, February 27, 8:00 am''

Draw 3

''Friday, February 27, 3:30 pm''

Pre-qualifying final

''Saturday, February 28, 1:30 pm''

Round-robin standings

''Final round-robin standings''

Round-robin results

All draw times are listed in Mountain Standard Time.

Draw 1

''Saturday, February 28, 1:30 pm''

Draw 2

''Saturday, February 28, 6:30 pm''

Draw 3

''Sunday, March 1, 8:30 am''

Draw 4

''Sunday, March 1, 1:30 pm''

Draw 5

''Sunday, March 1, 6:30 pm''

Draw 6

''Monday, March 2, 1:30 pm''

Draw 7

''Monday, March 2, 6:30 pm''

Draw 8

''Tuesday, March 3, 8:30 am''

Draw 9

''Tuesday, March 3, 1:30 pm''

Draw 10

''Tuesday, March 3, 6:30 pm''

Draw 11

''Wednesday, March 4, 8:30 am''

Draw 12

''Wednesday, March 4, 1:30 pm''

Draw 13

''Wednesday, March 4, 6:30 pm''

Draw 14

''Thursday, March 5, 8:30 am''

Draw 15

''Thursday, March 5, 1:30 pm''

Draw 16

''Thursday, March 5, 6:30 pm''

Draw 17

''Friday, March 6, 8:30 am''

Playoffs

1 vs. 2

''Friday, March 6, 6:30 pm''

3 vs. 4

''Saturday, March 7, 1:00 pm''

Semifinal

''Saturday, March 7, 6:00 pm''

Bronze medal game

''Sunday, March 8, 9:30 am''

Final

The 2015 Brier final was the first Brier final to start with four blanks. This game came down to the final stone of the eleventh end, where Pat Simmons had a draw to the pin for the win.
''Sunday, March 8, 5:00 pm''

Statistics

Top 5 player percentages

Round Robin only

Perfect games

Awards

The awards and all-star teams are listed as follows:
;All-Star Teams
First Team
  • Skip: Brad Jacobs, Northern Ontario
  • Third: Ryan Fry, Northern Ontario
  • Second: Carter Rycroft, Team Canada
  • Lead: Colin Hodgson, Manitoba
Second Team
;Ross Harstone Sportsmanship Award
;Paul McLean Award
  • Jim Young, longtime camera man for TSN's curling broadcasts
;Hec Gervais Most Valuable Player Award
  • Pat Simmons, Team Canada skip