Vernon鈥檚 Jim Cotter shook off his first loss Monday at the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian Men鈥檚 Curling Championship in Brandon by getting back into the win column.
Cotter scored a single point with the hammer in the final end to beat Terry Odishaw of New Brunswick 7-6 in the evening draw.
Defending champion Brad Gushue鈥檚 Team Canada rink from Newfoundland/Labrador knocked off Cotter 10-4 in the Monday morning draw in a battle of teams that had been 2-0.
Cotter, backed by third Steve Laycock and the front end of second Tyrel Griffith and lead Rick Sawatsky never trailed against New Brunswick. They scored single points in the first and third end, and deuces in the fifth and seventh. Odishaw stole one in the ninth to tie the game 6-6.
The win leaves Cotter in a three-way tie for second place in Pool B with Canada and Nova Scotia at 3-1.
Gushue suffered his first loss Monday night, 7-6 to Kevin Koe of Alberta, who used a great angle takeout with his final stone in the 10th end to score a pair. Koe is 4-0 and alone atop the group.
Stuart Thompson鈥檚 Dartmouth rink won their third straight, 11-2 over winless David St. Louis of Nunavut (0-4).
Ontario鈥檚 Scott McDonald improved to 2-2 with a 10-2 thumping of Koe鈥檚 brother, Jamie, of the Northwest Territories, who fell to 0-4.
Cotter will play Kevin Koe at 12 p.m. Pacific in his only game of the day Tuesday. It鈥檚 a rematch of the 2014 Brier final in Cotter鈥檚 hometown of Kamloops, which Koe won.
In Pool A, Northern Ontario (Brad Jacobs) leads at 4-0. Saskatchewan鈥檚 Kirk Muyres and the Wild Card team, Brendan Bottcher of Edmonton, are 3-1. Jon Solberg of the Yukon Territories and Manitoba鈥檚 Mike McEwen are 2-2. Quebec (Martin Crete) and Prince Edward Island (John Likely) are 1-3 while Newfoundland/Labrador鈥檚 Andrew Symonds is 0-4.
The top four rinks in each pool will bring their records following play Wednesday into a second crossover pool against the other four squads. The top four teams following that round robin Thursday and Friday advance to Saturday鈥檚 page playoffs.
roger@vernonmorningstar.com
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