Tim Hortons Brier 2020: Dates, Draw Schedule, Format for Curling Event

Qualification for the Canada team at the World Men's Curling Championship will take place at the 2020 Tim Hortons Brier tournament.

The domestic event starts on Saturday in Kingston, Ontario, and the overall winners will feature for the Canadians in Scotland from March 28. A wild-card match will be completed on Friday for the final team slot at the Brier.

Kevin Koe is chasing his fifth national victory, with 16 teams divided into two pools. A round-robin format will see the top four from each pool go forward to the championship pool. This will then decide the final-four teams who will advance to the deciding play-offs on March 8.

Pool A (teams listed according to seeding, and listed in order of skipper, third, second, lead, alternate, coach/high performance consultant; hometown)

1. Northern Ontario, Brad Jacobs (Marc Kennedy, E.J. Harnden, Ryan Harnden, Lee Toner, Rick Lang; Sault Ste. Marie)
4. Alberta, Brendan Bottcher (Darren Moulding, Brad Thiessen, Karrick Martin, Patrick Janssen, Don Bartlett; Edmonton)
5. Newfoundland/Labrador, Brad Gushue (Mark Nichols, Brett Gallant, Geoff Walker, Jeff Thomas, Jules Owchar; St. John's)
8. Manitoba, Jason Gunnlaugson (Adam Casey [throws second], Alex Forrest [throws third], Connor Njegovan, Garry van den Berghe; Morris)
9. Nova Scotia, Jamie Murphy (Paul Flemming, Scott Saccary, Phil Crowell, Kevin Ouellette, Bruce Lohnes; Halifax)
12. Quebec, Alek Bedard (Louis Quevillon, Emile Asselin, Bradley Lequin, Daniel Bedard; Lacolle/Boucherville/Glenmore)
13. Prince Edward Island, Bryan Cochrane (Ian MacAulay, Morgan Currie, Mark O'Rourke, Ken Sullivan; Cornwall)
16. Nunavut, Jake Higgs (Dale Kohlenberg, Christian Smitheram, Ed MacDonald, Sheldon Wettig, Quentin Vanderschaaf; Iqaluit)

Pool B

2. Ontario, John Epping (Ryan Fry, Matthew Camm, Brent Laing, John Morris, Jim Wilson; Toronto)
3. Team Wild Card
6. Team Canada, Kevin Koe (B.J. Neufeld, Colton Flasch, Ben Hebert, Ted Appelman, John Dunn; Calgary)
7. Saskatchewan, Matt Dunstone (Braeden Moskowy, Catlin Schneider, Dustin Kidby, Adam Kingsbury; Regina)
10. British Columbia, Steve Laycock [throws third] (Jim Cotter [throws last], Andrew Nerpin, Rick Sawatsky, Brad Wood; Vernon/Kelowna)
11. New Brunswick, James Grattan (Paul Dobson, Andy McCann, Jamie Brannen, Chris Jeffrey; Oromocto)
14. Yukon, Thomas Scoffin (Trygg Jensen, Brett Winfield, Joe Wallingham, Wade Scoffin; Whitehorse)
15. Northwest Territories, Jamie Koe (David Aho, Shadrach Mcleod, Cole Parsons, Matthew Ng; Yellowknife)

The draw schedule is available here, per Curling Canada.

Natacha Pisarenko/Associated Press

Koe would move clear of Randy Ferbey, Ernie Richardson and Kevin Martin with the most wins at the competition if he can skipper his team to glory.

The 45-year old first won the Brier in 2010, and he's continued to collect gold medals at regular intervals throughout the last decade.

A two-time world champion, Koe will believe he can make it a hat-trick of global gold victories if his team win another national crown.

Alberta's Brendan Bottcher could deny Koe if he helps his team to victory after claiming silver in the past two years.

Brad Gushue will make his 17th appearance at the event, and his strong pedigree saw him collect the title in 2017 and 2018.

The 39-year-old will join an elite band of three-time winners if he leads the Newfoundland/Labrador team to the top of the podium.