Tim Hortons Brier 2017: Tuesday Curling Results, Updated Draw and Schedule

Just when teams appeared ready to separate themselves from the pack at the 2017 Tim Hortons Brier, the drama returned with a handful of upsets.

Day 4 at the prestigious event featured several extremely close battles, many of them coming down to the final rock in the 10th end. A few even needed an extra end to settle the match.

While early losses seemed to be enough to derail a few squads, surprising results in the night session kept the standings jumbled with the majority of teams still in the running to make the playoffs. With 17 total draws in the 12-team round robin, anything can happen.

Here is a look at Tuesday's action with three separate draws at the Brier.

Draw	Team	Score/Start Time (ET)	Team
8	Newfoundland & Labrador	4-8	Northwest Territories
8	Nova Scotia	5-8	Canada
8	New Brunswick	7-9	Manitoba
8	Ontario	6-7	Quebec
9	Nova Scotia	3-8	Northern Ontario
9	New Brunswick	6-7	Saskatchewan
9	Quebec	5-4	British Columbia
9	Northwest Territories	3-10	Alberta
10	Saskatchewan	9-5	Ontario
10	Northern Ontario	5-7	Newfoundland & Labrador
10	Canada	4-6	Alberta
10	British Columbia	7-5	Manitoba

Pos.	Team	Games	Wins	Losses
1	Manitoba (McEwen)	6	5	1
2	Northern Ontario (Jacobs)	7	5	2
3	Canada (Koe)	6	4	2
4	Newfoundland & Labrador (Gushue)	6	4	2
5	Quebec (Ménard)	6	4	2
6	British Columbia (Morris)	7	4	3
7	Saskatchewan (Casey)	7	4	3
8	Alberta (Bottcher)	7	3	4
9	Nova Scotia (Murphy)	6	2	4
10	New Brunswick (Kennedy)	6	1	5
11	Ontario (Howard)	6	1	5
12	Northwest Territories (Koe)	6	1	5

Draw 8 Recap

The last remaining undefeated team got a scare in the morning session as Manitoba needed a thrilling come-from-behind victory to survive against New Brunswick.

Down 7-3 after seven ends, Manitoba was at a point where many teams concede. However, Mike McEwen scored two points in the eighth with the last rock and then stole two points in the ninth and two points in the 10th to earn a shocking 9-7 win.

"You're probably going to have an ugly victory here or there," McEwen said after the match, per the Canadian Press (via SportsNet). "That's about as ugly as you want to get."

It wasn't pretty, but his team moved to 5-0 in the tournament.

The drama continued in Draw 8 with Ontario against Quebec, which was too good to finish after 10 ends. Ontario's one point in the 10th forced an 11th end, but Quebec was able to bounce back with the go-ahead point to win 7-6.

Both teams shot about 92 percent in what was a well-played battle for both sides.

The Northwest Territories earned an 8-4 victory in their match against Newfoundland and Labrador, although this one also came down to the final shots. Jamie Koe earned the go-ahead point in the ninth end before coming through with a three-point round to close out the victory.

The only team that had an easy time in the first session Tuesday was Kevin Koe and Team Canada. The squad used two different three-point ends to beat a sloppy squad from Nova Scotia.

Although the defending champions are no longer undefeated, they remain a top contender going forward.

Draw 9 Recap

Alberta had been one of the bigger disappointments in this tournament, but they came through with a huge win in Draw 9 against the Northwest Territories.

Brendan Bottcher scored a double in the second, third and fourth ends to earn a commanding lead, then kept it up until it was a 10-3 final after eight.

There were also early handshakes for Northern Ontario, which took advantage of every opportunity to go up 7-2 in the early going. Brad Jacobs' squad then remained defensive with a lead until Nova Scotia conceded down 8-3 with two ends remaining.

The battle between New Brunswick and Saskatchewan was much closer, although skipper Adam Casey missed the opportunity to close out a win for Saskatchewan in the 10th end, as described by Devin Heroux of CBC:

Fortunately for Casey, he was able to make up for it in his next chance to earn a 7-6 victory.

Quebec and British Columbia also needed extra time to settle their battle, although this one took an impressive double by BC to force the 11th end.

Once again, however, it was the team with the last rock that got the win. Quebec scored on its final attempt to win 5-4, improving to 4-2 in the tournament to remain in contention. 

Draw 10 Recap

The home fans at St. John's had a lot to cheer about in the Newfoundland & Labrador match against Northern Ontario. 

There were big shots from both sides, but Brad Gushue effectively sealed the game with a key shot in the eighth end to earn two points. Robin Short of the St. John's Telegram noted the shot and the reaction from the crowd:

The squad held on for the 7-5 victory over one of the top teams in the field.

Saskatchewan continued its solid day with a dominant showing against Ontario, which fell to 1-5 on the tournament and likely eliminated from contention.

Adam Casey's crew scored three points in the opening end, but the big moment was the five-point showing in the sixth end. Saskatchewan hadn't scored more than three points in an end all week but used the game-changing effort to earn a 9-5 victory that concluded after eight.

Things didn't go as well for the defending champions as Team Canada struggled with consistency and suffered its second loss at the hands of Alberta. Kevin Poe did his job at 94 percent for the match, but there simply weren't many opportunities for points as his squad suffered the 6-4 defeat.

The only positive note was the Manitoba struggled as well in the night session, grabbing its first loss of the tournament. British Columbia continued its relatively conservative approach, preventing opponents from grabbing multiple points on a single end.

This ended up working out in a 7-5 win over the first-place squad.

All of a sudden, teams that appeared out of the running are back in contention heading into Day 5.

Wednesday Draws

Draw	Sheet	Matchup	Time (ET)
11	A	Quebec vs. Alberta	8:30 a.m.
11	B	Northwest Territories vs. British Columbia	8:30 a.m.
11	C	Nova Scotia vs. Saskatchewan	8:30 a.m.
11	D	Northern Ontario vs. New Brunswick	8:30 a.m.
12	A	Northern Ontario vs. Manitoba	1:30 p.m.
12	B	Alberta vs. Ontario	1:30 p.m.
12	C	British Columbia vs. Newfoundland & Labrador	1:30 p.m.
12	D	Canada vs. Saskatchewan	1:30 p.m.
13	A	Northwest Territories vs. Canada	6:30 p.m.
13	B	Nova Scotia vs. Manitoba	6:30 p.m.
13	C	Ontario vs. New Brunswick	6:30 p.m.
13	D	Newfoundland & Labrador vs. Quebec	6:30 p.m.