Ryan Horne, TSN.ca
The Scotties Tournament of Hearts went off without a hitch inside the Calgary curling bubble. Now it's the men's turn.
The 2021 Tim Hortons Brier kicks off Friday from the fan-less environment at WinSport's Markin MacPhail Centre as an expanded field of 18 rinks battle it out over 10 days for the coveted Tankard.
Brad Gushue returns as the Team Canada representative and will look to become a Brier champion for the fourth time in his career after winning last year's Canadian men’s curling championship in Kingston, Ont., days before the world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Right behind Gushue and his St. John's foursome are a slew of teams that have a legit shot at standing atop the podium on the evening of Sunday, March 14, including Brad Jacobs, Kevin Koe, Mike McEwen, Brendan Bottcher, John Epping and Matt Dunstone, just to name a few.
Competitors at the Brier must provide a negative COVID-19 test prior to their departure for Calgary and will be tested numerous times upon arrival. The Scotties got through their entire 10-day event without a single positive test. One game was postponed due to an abundance of caution after a player on Northwest Territories got food poisoning.
The Tournament of Hearts proved that the curling bubble works. Let's cross our fingers the men's championship will have the same results.
The 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 Brier 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.
Check out the broadcast schedule, HERE.
A grand prize of $100,000 goes to the last rink standing with the winners (if not already qualified) also earning a spot in the 2021 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials. They will also represent Team Canada at next year's Brier.
It all starts Friday night at 8:30pm et/5:30pm pt across the TSN Network and streaming on TSN.ca, the TSN App and TSN Direct.
Let's take a closer look at the 18 teams vying for this year's Canadian curling title.
*NOTE: Skip Apps - Numbers of career Brier appearances for the skip heading into this year's event.