Team Wild Card Three alternate Wayne Middaugh, right, and skip Glenn Howard celebrate defeating Team New Brunswick at the Brier on March 10, 2021.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
A Wayne Middaugh-skipped Wild Card Three rink has secured a berth in the championship round at the Canadian men’s curling championship.
Middaugh, who is skipping the Ontario rink in place of an injured Glenn Howard (ribs), beat Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs 8-6 on Thursday to improve to 6-1 at the Tim Hortons Brier.
With one game to go, Middaugh leads Pool A.
Jacobs dropped to 5-3 after losing his final preliminary-round game. He’s clinging to the fourth and final championship-round spot in Pool A, just ahead of New Brunswick’s James Grattan (4-3)
Manitoba’s Jason Gunnlaugson (5-2) missed a chance to stay even with Howard after losing 7-4 to B.C.’s Steve Laycock (3-4).
Gunnlaugson is tied with Brendan Bottcher for second after the Alberta skip beat Yukon’s Dustin Mikkelsen 11-2.
In the other game in Thursday’s opening draw, Wild Card Two’s Mike McEwen (3-4) beat Gregory Skauge of the Northwest Territories 12-3.
The top four teams in each of the two pools after Thursday’s final two draws advance to the championship round on Friday and carry their records with them.
The top three emerging from the final eight are Sunday’s playoff teams at WinSport’s Markin MacPhail Centre.
The No. 1 seed earns a bye to the evening final to face the winner of the afternoon semifinal.