BRANDON, Man. — Alberta's Kevin Koe secured a playoff berth and was the only undefeated team left at the Canadian men's curling championship Thursday.

When the dust settled on the first day of championship pool play, five of eight teams remained in the playoff picture.

Koe was 9-0 after a 6-5 win over Manitoba's Mike McEwen.

Northern Ontario's Brad Jacobs suffered a first loss falling 7-6 in an extra end to Ontario's Scott McDonald.

Jacobs dropped to 8-1 alongside defending champion Brad Gushue, who was an 8-4 winner over Saskatchewan's Kirk Muyres.

Brendan Bottcher's wild-card team downed B.C.'s Jim Cotter 8-3 to get to 7-2. McDonald stayed in the playoff hunt at 6-3.

The top four teams from the championship pool advance to Saturday's Page playoff. The winner of the playoff between the top two seeds goes directly to Sunday night's final.

The loser drops to Sunday afternoon's semifinal to meet the winner of the playoff between the third and fourth seeds.

The top four teams from two pools of eight advanced to the championship round that concludes Friday.