2015 Tim Hortons Brier


The 2015 Tim Hortons Brier was held from February 28 to March 8 at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The winners earn the honour of representing Canada at the 2015 Ford World Men's Curling Championship in Halifax.

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 is having separate entries for the Yukon and Northwest Territories, which have 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 will play 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 will partake, which essentially allows 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 be 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:

;Notes
  1. Morris skipped the first five games, and Simmons skipped the remaining six games.

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

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
LocaleSkipWLPFPAEnds
Won
Ends
Lost
Blank
Ends
Stolen
Ends
Shot
Pct.
Brad Jacobs10180394934181188%
Brad Gushue9280615142121185%
Steve Laycock746858424023886%
Pat Simmons746461444317987%
Kevin Koe6572634942131489%
Jean-Michel Ménard657067455011485%
Jim Cotter5663604638211082%
Mark Kean566479414914683%
Adam Casey5664694448111183%
Reid Carruthers476663414613888%
Jeremy Mallais295079385010481%
Jamie Koe0114688374712479%

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
Second Team
;Ross Harstone Sportsmanship Award
  • Jim Cotter, British Columbia skip
;Paul McLean Award
  • Jim Young, longtime camera man for TSN's curling broadcasts
;Hec Gervais Most Valuable Player Award
  • Pat Simmons, Team Canada skip
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