Tim Hortons Brier 2019: Friday Curling Results, Updated Draw and Schedule

The 2019 Tim Hortons Brier championship pool round concluded Friday night, and Draw 18 on Friday afternoon at Westoba Place in Brandon, Manitoba, clarified the teams contending for the playoffs earlier than anticipated. 

After the afternoon's action, the playoff field was already set. Alberta, Northern Ontario, Canada and Wild Card will move on.  

Team Alberta, however, has absolutely nothing to worry about as it won its 10th draw and remained the tournament's only undefeated team. The two next best teams faced off in a back-and-forth affair. Wild Card and Ontario's result sent one team to the playoff and the other team home.

Here's a look at Friday's results and recap as well as Saturday's scheduling.

Results

Draw 18 

Alberta def. Saskatchewan, 9-3

Wild Card def. Ontario, 6-4

Manitoba def. British Columbia, 9-7

Northern Ontario def. Canada, 7-6 

Draw 19 

Saskatchewan def. British Columbia, 6-5

Canada def. Wild Card, 8-5

Alberta def. Northern Ontario, 7-5

Manitoba def. Ontario, 8-4

Schedule

Draw 21 (3 p.m. ET)

Canada vs. Wild Card

Draw 22 (8 p.m. ET)

Alberta vs. Northern Ontario

Recap

Draw 18

Team Wild Card's (8-2) defeat of Ontario (6-4) sent itself through to the playoff while ending Ontario's Brier run. Wild Card jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first end, and all four members finished above 90 percent accuracy rates. Ontario tried to make up the deficit later on with an attempted triple but failed:

Canada (8-2) and Northern Ontario (9-1), both owning an 8-1 record coming into Draw 18, needed an extra end to decide a winner after Canadian skip Brad Gushue scored one stone in the 10th end to tie it at six:

However, the back-to-back reigning champions came up empty in the 11th end, and Northern Ontario hung on to secure a spot in the No. 1 vs. No. 2 playoff draw.

Meanwhile, hometown team Manitoba (5-5) scored two in both the eighth and ninth ends to force British Columbia (4-6) to concede, while Alberta (10-0) only needed eight ends to take care of Saskatchewan (4-6).

Draw 19 

Friday night's draw was low pressure since the four teams advancing to the playoff clinched in the afternoon. That said, Draw 19 provided a potential preview of what could be to come in the playoff.

Canada (9-2) rolled through Wild Card (8-3) in eight ends while Alberta (11-0) outlasted Northern Ontario (9-2). Canada and Wild Card will play again Saturday afternoon, and Northern Ontario will have one more crack at Alberta on Saturday night. 

The winner of Alberta-Northern Ontario will advance directly to the finals. The winner of Canada-Wild Card will play the loser of Alberta and Northern Ontario in the semifinals. 

After Canada's defeat of Wild Card, Canadian skip Brad Gushue will have the hammer for Saturday's draw.

Saskatchewan (5-6) ended its Brier run on a high note by breaking the tie with British Columbia in the 10th end. Manitoba (6-5) also finished its Brier run with a win but received additional love from its hometown fans on hand. 

The full schedule and standings for the Tim Hortons Brier are available on Curling.ca.