Curling Canada confirmed the pools and format for the 2021 Tim Hortons Brier set to take place at WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park inside the Calgary curling bubble from March 5-14. 

Like the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, the 18 teams will be split into two pools of nine where an eight-game round robin will occur. From there, the top four teams in each pool will carry their records to the championship pool where they will play more four games against teams in the opposing pool. 

The most notable change to this year's format is that there will be no page playoff. Instead, the top three teams following championship pool play will advance to the playoffs with the top ranked team getting an automatic entry to the championship game. The other two squads will battle in the semifinals. 

Here's a look at the pools.

 

POOL A

1. Northern Ontario, Brad Jacobs 
4. Alberta, Brendan Bottcher 
5. Wild Card #1, Mike McEwen 
8. Manitoba, Jason Gunnlaugson 
9. Wild Card #3, Glenn Howard 
12. British Columbia, Steve Laycock 
13. New Brunswick, James Grattan 
16. Northwest Territories, Greg Skauge 
17. Yukon, Dustin Mikkelsen 

 

POOL B

2. Ontario, John Epping 
3. Team Canada, Brad Gushue
6. Wild Card #2, Kevin Koe
7. Saskatchewan, Matt Dunstone 
10. Nova Scotia, Jamie Murphy 
11. Quebec, Mike Fournier 
14. Newfoundland/Labrador, Greg Smith 
15. Prince Edward Island, Eddie MacKenzie 
18. Nunavut, Peter Mackey