For the fifth time in his career, Kevin Koe will have the honour of wearing the maple leaf in international play.
It will be the first time he'll get to wear it while on home turf as the national men's curling champion.
Michael Burns/Curling Canada photo
Koe and his rink of B.J. Neufeld, Colton Flasch and Ben Hebert are your 2019 Tim Hortons Brier champoions after beating Brendan Bottcher and the wild card team on Sunday evening in the final by a score of 4-3. Koe needed a delicate shot to move Bottcher's stone back, while still holding his own in the rings, to score two and carry him over the finish line.
If you've followed curling over the years, it was reminiscent of Al Hackner's 10 th end shot which scored a pair to send it into an extra end at the 1985 Tim Hortons Brier.
Koe had the hammer going into the final and scored a single to draw first blood in the second end. He followed that up by stealing one in the fourth to double his lead only to have Bottcher score two in the eighth end. Bottcher then stole a single in the ninth to put Koe on the ropes but Koe's Hackner-like heroics saw him through for a fourth national men's title.
Koe now gets the chance to be Team Canada at the World Men's Curling Championship in Lethbridge, Alta., which begins on March 30.