Heart Break For Team Northern Ontario in Calgary

Pat Simmons got the shot he wanted with last rock and then made it to give Team Canada the 2015 Tim Hortons Brier, presented by SecurTek Monitoring Solutions, championship.

“That was the exact shot I wanted,” Simmons said of his  draw to the button in the 11^th end that gave them a 6-5 win over Brad Jacobs of Northern Ontario in Sunday’s final. “I told the guys before the end, leave me that inturn draw. Told myself just to lay it down there and not overthrow it and I knew the boys would get it to where it needed to be”

Team Jacobs, with third Ryan Fry, second E.J. Harnden, lead Ryan Harnden, alternate Eric Harnden and coach Tom Coulterman take home a total of $62,000 and 35 CTRS points.

Simmons, who shot 93 per cent in the final, was named winner of the Hec Gervais Award as the playoff most valuable player, which didn’t surprise Rycroft at all.

“Even since we switched it up, it’s amazing the poise that he has,” said Rycroft, who won the Brier last year with Thiessen, Simmons and skip Kevin Koe. “What can you say about Pat Simmons? He just wasn’t missing. You think back to that runback double he made (in four). Miss that quarter inch either way and they get three and complexion of the game is totally different.”

The teams blanked the first four ends, traded deuces in the fifth and seventh, Jacobs took one in the eighth before Canada took control with three in the ninth.