Brier-bound Kamloops trio wins men’s B.C. curling title; Brown foursome falls in women’s final

The Tanaka foursome qualified for the playoff round at provincials as the B champion after they finished the preliminary round of the double knockout tournament with a 5-1 record.

Tanaka then lost 8-4 to Montgomery in Friday’s (Jan. 2) A vs. B page playoff game. They set up Sunday’s rematch against Montgomery with a 5-4 win over Richard Krell’s Langley-based rink in a semi-final Saturday.

A Kamloops-based team skipped by Brad Thompson also competed in Esquimalt and finished with a 2-3 record. Team Thompson also featured Adam Windsor who threw fourth, Matt Whiteford at second and Bryce Laufer as lead. Calder Fadden served as an alternate.

Kamloops-based skip Matt Dunstone has already qualified for the 2026 Brier. His Manitoba-based rink, which finished second at last year’s Brier in Kelowna, automatically qualified for the tournament based on their 2024-25 CTRS rankings.

The winner of the 2026 Brier will represent Canada at the 2026 World Men’s Curling Championship in Ogden City, Utah March 28 to April 5.

Meanwhile, on the women’s side, Corryn Brown and her quartet from the Kamloops Curling Club fell just short in their quest to repeat as provincial champions.

Brown gave up three points in both the sixth and ninth ends en route to a 9-5 loss to Victoria’s Taylor Reese-Hansen in Sunday’s final, which was also played at the Archie Browning Arena.

Team Brown with coach Jim Cotter. (Image Credit: Team Brown/Facebook)

Team Brown – which also features Erin Pincott, Sarah Koltun, and Samantha Fisher, along with coach Jim Cotter – won their first six games of the tournament before back-to-back losses to Reese-Hansen, who will be making her debut at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Brown led 4-2 at the midway point of Sunday’s championship game, before Reese-Hansen roared back with a triple in the sixth end to lead 5-4. Reese-Hansen then stole a single in the seventh end and added three more in the ninth to win her first provincial title.

Congratulations to Team Reese-Hansen – now Team @CurlBC at the 2026 Scotties Tournament of Hearts!#STOH2026 pic.twitter.com/H3fEObGn1r

— Curling Canada (@CurlingCanada) January 4, 2026

The 2026 Scotties Tournament of Hearts will be held in Mississauga, Ont., between Jan. 23 and Feb. 1. The winner will represent Canada at the 2026 World Women’s Curling Championship in Calgary in March.

Also in Esquimalt, KCC member Jaycee Hallstrom won a bronze with Team Monteith, while Jillian Evans won a silver with Team Bartlett at the 2026 BC U20 Women’s Curling Championships.

Team Monteith lost 8-2 to Team Fitzgibbon in the women’s 2 vs 3 game on Saturday (Jan. 3), while Bartlett lost 5-3 to Fitzgibbon in Sunday’s U20 final.

by Victor Kaisar & Marty Hastings

Brier-bound Kamloops trio wins men’s B.C. curling title; Brown foursome falls in women’s final

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