2004 Nokia Brier

The 2004 Nokia Brier was held at Saskatchewan Place in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, March 6 to March 14. The Nova Scotia team skipped by Mark Dacey defeated the Alberta team of Randy Ferbey in dramatic fashion in the final game played on March 14. Ferbey's team was attempting to become Canadian champion for the fourth consecutive year.

Teams

* Throws fourth stones

Qualifying

Alberta

@ Hinton

1. Randy Ferbey
2. Kurt Balderston
3. Kevin Martin
4. John Morris
5. Rob Armitage

British Columbia

@ Nanaimo

1. Jay Peachey
2. Scott Decap
3. Brian Miki
4. Wes Craig

Manitoba

@ Brandon

1. Brent Scales
2. Jeff Stoughton
3. Murray Woodward
4. Dave Boehmer

New Brunswick

@ Fredericton

1. Russ Howard
2. Terry Odishaw
3. Mike Flannery
4. Mike Kennedy

Northern Ontario

@ Sault Ste. Marie

1. Rob Gordon
2. Jeff Currie
3. Denis Malette
4. Al Harnden

Ontario

@ Owen Sound

1. Mike Harris
2. Glenn Howard
3. Phil Daniel
4. Peter Corner

Nova Scotia

@ Kentville

1. Mark Dacey

Newfoundland and Labrador

@ Goose Bay

1. Brad Gushue
2. Mark Noseworthy
3. Keith Ryan
4. John Boland

Prince Edward Island

@ Summerside

1. Mike Gaudet
2. John Likely
3. Peter MacDonald
4. Andrew Robinson

Saskatchewan

@ Moose Jaw

1. Bruce Korte
2. Brad Heidt
3. Doug Harcourt
4. Joel Jordison

Yukon/Northwest Territories

@ Whitehorse

1. Brian Wasnea
2. Peter O'Driscoll
3. Chad Cowan
4. Paul Delorey

Round-robin standings

The standings at the end of round-robin play on March 11, after 17 draws:

Notes:

• Nova Scotia finished first as they defeated Alberta 8–7 in draw 13.
• The top four teams qualified for the page playoffs.
• British Columbia defeated New Brunswick 7–5 in a tie-breaker (draw 18) on March 12 to claim fourth place.
• Most of the draws were televised live on TSN.

Playoffs

The brier uses the page playoff system where the top four teams with the best records at the end of round-robin play meet in the playoff rounds. The first and second place teams play each other, with the winner advancing directly to the final. The winner of the other page playoff game between the third and fourth place teams plays the loser of the first/second playoff game in the semi-final. The winner of the semi-final moves on to the final.

Normally the 3 versus 4 page playoff game is played before the 1 versus 2 playoff game on Friday. However, since a tiebreaker was played this year on the same day to decide fourth place, the 1 versus 2 game was played first.

Playoff Games One and Two

Game one (draw 19) of the page playoffs was between Mark Dacey's team from Nova Scotia (first overall) versus Randy Ferbey's team from Alberta (second overall). The game was placed on sheet B on March 12 with Dacey having last rock advantage in the first end.

Game two (draw 20) of the page playoffs was between Brad Gushue's team from Newfoundland and Labrador (third overall) versus Jay Peachey's team from British Columbia (fourth overall). The game was played on March 12 with Gushue having last rock advantage in the first end.

Semi-Final

The semi-final (draw 21) was played on March 13 between Mark Dacey's team from Nova Scotia and Jay Peachey's team from British Columbia. Dacey had last rock advantage in the first end.

Final

The final (draw 22) was played on March 14 and televised on the CBC across Canada. Dacey had first rock advantage in the first end due to their first place position in the round-robin. Ferbey led 8–4 after the 7th end but Dacey's team put themselves back into the game with a big 3 point 8th end. Forcing Alberta to take a single in the 9th, Dacey was 2 down coming home but had last rock advantage. A couple of errors by Ferbey's team and some good shot making, gave Nova Scotia 3 points in the 10th end and the championship.