REGINA — Kevin Koe leaned on a pair of brooms at ice level at the Brandt Centre, and the four-time Brier champion shook his head.
“This is about rock bottom, not going to lie,” Koe said, straight-faced. “I mean, been to a lot of Briers. This is a new feeling.”
Minutes earlier, the veteran skip and his Team Alberta — third Tyler Tardi, second Jacques Gauthier and lead Karrick Martin — left the ice following a fifth loss here, putting them firmly out of contention at 1-5.
As they gathered their brooms and water bottles, Pharrell’s Happy played over the arena speakers. Team Koe was anything but.
“Just sloppy,” Tardi said, of the team’s play.
“I honestly thought we were a playoff team coming in here, and it’s been a rough week,” Koe added. “I've never missed so many draws in my life.”
Team Koe came into this event ranked third in Canada and eighth in the world. They lost the Alberta final to Aaron Sluchinski, but qualified for the Brier based on their high ranking.
It was Sluchinski who handed Team Koe their first loss at the Brier in the Battle of Alberta opener. Koe then beat his younger brother Jamie and Team Northwest Territories to move to 1-1, but after losing a close one to Team Saskatchewan, the losing streak continued Tuesday afternoon with a fourth straight loss, 11-5 to Nova Scotia.
“It felt like we were getting on a good roll in the third game this week, and then all of a sudden it just fell apart,” Tardi said.
It did, and it’s plain weird to see Koe out of contention so early on, just six games in. The two-time world champion has qualified for eight finals in 12 trips here.
“This is uncharted territory for Kevin Koe,” said Team Saskatchewan skip, Mike McEwen, who moved to 4-1 on Tuesday. “I don’t know what else to say. Kevin Koe shows up all the time for Briers. This is something I don’t think we’ve seen in quite some time.”
“I did not expect that,” added PEI skip, Tyler Smith, who’s also at 4-1. “Kevin's a Canadian and world champion, been to the Olympics, he's one of the best there ever was for Canada — and still is. They're just having a tough week, and it's all part of it, but it's got to be hard on them.”
Yet there is a Koe at the top of the standings here, Kevin’s younger brother Jamie, whose Team NT is 4-1. On Monday, Team NT beat Team Canada, the defending champions skipped by Brad Gushue, who’s looking for a third straight Brier and record-extending sixth in all.
Gushue described this year’s Brier as “wacky.”
“I’ve seen more upsets this week than I’ve seen in any Brier that I’ve been to before, and we’re only half-way through,” he added. “We’re getting one or two a draw. It’s been really crazy.”
Gushue said his team was eating dinner Monday night and saw the standings flash up on TV. “You see Kevin at the bottom, and it was very odd — you’re very used to seeing Kevin up top,” Gushue said. “But I think those guys got going the wrong direction, and sometimes when that happens it’s hard to get out of it.”
It has been that type of season for Team Koe, though they came into this event with two wins and two runner-up finishes. “We’ve had events all season where we’re either in the final or we’re not in the playoffs at all,” Tardi said. “It’s been up and down.”
“We've kind of grinded to where we were, third in Canada, which is pretty good,” added Koe. “And then we put in a lot of technical work in the New year. We got a new coach, and he's helped us a ton. That'll be the frustrating part is I feel like technically wise, we're throwing it a lot better than we were in the first half of the year. But still you got to be able to draw the rings at times and that wasn't always easy for us, and me especially.”
The 49-year-old Koe will try to earn a few more wins here to close out round robin play, and he’ll also be cheering on his brother and team NT.
“The roles are flip flop from a typical Brier, it seems,” Koe said. “But he's made the playoffs in the Brier, so this isn’t new for him. He looks like he's playing really good, and the skip has to play good at this event to win. I'll be pulling for him and cheering hard, and if they play like they've been playing, they’re a playoff team.”
But the Team Koe that’s nearly always a playoff team isn’t a playoff team this year after what the skip called “a [expletive] week.”
“For someone like Kevin who’s been there in so many playoffs and so many finals and at the end of the week, I can only imagine how he’s feeling,” Gushue said.
It’s certainly unfamiliar for Koe.
“It sucks for me,” he said. “I've been to eight finals at this event, so I feel like when I'm here, I'm around. But this will be a new one.”
Koe is still here, sure, but he isn’t around, in contention.
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.