Tim Hortons Brier 2021: Brendan Bottcher snaps three-final losing streak, leads Alberta to gold medal

Jackie Spiegel

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Tim Hortons Brier 2021: Brendan Bottcher snaps three-final losing streak, leads Alberta to gold medal image

The Buffalo Bills were in four straight Super Bowls. The Buffalo Bills lost four straight Super Bowls.

Entering Sunday's gold-medal game at the 2021 Tim Hortons Brier, Brendan Bottcher was looking like the Buffalo Bills; he had had lost three straight finals. But he would not be denied in his fourth attempt as he led Team Alberta to a 4-2 takedown of four-time champion skip Kevin Koe and Wild Card 2.

"Just absolutely amazing," Bottcher told the Winnipeg Sun's Ted Wyman. "It means a lot. Losing is never easy and losing in the Brier final sucks, for lack of a better word. It sucked he first time, it sucked the second time and it sucked just as much the third time.

"I know we all show it differently but it just means so much to us to win and I think that was really on display here tonigt when we closed it out, just the raw emotion that was out there and just how happy we all were for each other as well as ourselves. I think it's pretty special."

Bottcher and his team, Darren Moulding (vice-skip), Brad Thiessen (second) and Karrick Martin (lead) were together for the three losses as well.

A rematch of the 2019 final, it was the Battle of Alberta on the sheets as Calgary's Koe faced off against Edmonton's Bottcher. In 2019 Koe, who was the Alberta skip, defeated Bottcher and the Wild Card team 4-3. With the win, Bottcher stopped Koe from what would have been a historic fifth Tankard as a skip. These two teams also met in the Championship Pool with Bottcher and Alberta defeating Koe and crew 8-7 in the 11th End.

Here's a quick recap at some of the biggest moments from Alberta's win. 

  • Trailing 1-0 in the 7th End, Koe misses on his last rock setting up Bottcher for the final shot and a 3-1 lead.
  • With the score now 3-2, Bottcher gets one by a few millimeters to take a two-shot lead into the final end.
  • Facing an improbable shot in the 10th End on their final stone, Koe and his crew congratulate the 2021 Brier champs.

The win was significant for the province, too, as the gold-medal game was the 1,000th game played by Alberta at the Brier and marked the 29th win for the province in the history of the tournament.

Earlier in the day, Alberta defeated Saskatchewan in the semifinals on the very last stone of the 10th End to get two and come-from-behind to win 6-5. It marked the second-straight year Saskatchewan and skip Dunstone left with a bronze. The province's Brier drought continues; the last Saskatchewan win was in 1980.

Congratulations poured in on socal media for the new Brier champs who will now represent Canada at the World Men's Curling Championship April 2-11 in Calgary, Alta., and will be Team Canada at the 2022 Tim Hortons Brier.

Jackie Spiegel