The 2026 Montana’s Brier is set to start on Friday from Mary Brown’s Centre in St. John’s, Newfoundland. The focus will be on Canadian Olympic gold medalist Brad Gushue of St. John’s. That is because Gushue has already stated this will be his final season of high performance curling. He is one of four teams who pre-qualified for the Brier, and did not need to be a provincial champion in order to participate at the 2026 Canadian National Men’s Curling Championship.
Gushue, who won the gold medal at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin, is one of two Canadian skips participating at the 2026 Brier, who have won the gold medal in men’s curling at the Olympic Winter Games. The other is Brad Jacobs of Sault. Ste. Marie, Ontario, who won a gold medal for Canada at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi and the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Jacobs, is one of two teams based out of Calgary. The other is skipped by two-time world champion Kevin Koe. Other notable skips participating include 2015 World Junior Curling champion Braden Calvert of Winnipeg (representing Team Manitoba), 2006 Brier champion Jean-Michel Menard (representing Team Quebec), two-time Masters champion Matt Dunstone of Winnipeg (pre-qualifier), and 2003 Winter Universiade champion Mike McEwen of Winnipeg (representing a team based out of Saskatoon and also a pre-qualifier). Finally, the other 11 skips are Cody Tanaka of Kamloops (representing British Columbia), James Grattan of Oromocto (representing New Brunswick), Nathan Young of St. John’s (representing Newfoundland), Sandy MacEwan of Sudbury (representing Northern Ontario), Kendal Thompson of Halifax (representing Team Nova Scotia), Jayden King of Tillsonburg (representing Ontario), Tyler Smith of Crapaud (representing Prince Edward Island), Kelly Knapp of Regina (representing Saskatchewan), Jamie Koe of Yellowknife (representing the Northwest Territories), Derek Samagalski of Winnipeg (representing Nunavut) and Thomas Scoffin of Sudbury (representing Yukon).