New kids on the block!

Rookie Team Mooibroek from Ontario picks up debut win at 2025 Montana’s Brier

Look around Prospera Place at the 2025 Montana’s Brier, presented by AGI, and you’ll see some familiar faces. 

Saskatchewan’s Mike McEwen is back in green and aiming to elevate his team one step further after finishing as the runner-up in 2024. Olympic gold-medallist Brad Jacobs is donning Alberta midnight blue and leading a fire-powered squad that feels destined to return to the world stage.

Even the deep cuts from the field provide curling fans with a sense of comfort, with Yukon skip Thomas Scoffin and Prince Edward Island’s Tyler Smith returning for their fifth Canadian men’s championships.

If Saturday afternoon’s draw in Kelowna, B.C., was any indication, this year’s event is just as much about the new class of rookie Montana’s Brier skips making their debuts. Six skips are entering the spotlight for the first time and no debut was as impressive as Ontario’s Team Sam Mooibroek of Whitby.

Ontario needed eight ends to dispatch Quebec’s Team Félix Asselin (Glenmore/Valleyfield/Etchemin/Des Collines/Belvedere) with an 11-4 win.

Mooibroek, vice-skip Ryan Wiebe, second Scott Mitchell, lead Nathan Steele, alternate Gavin Lydiate and coach Jake Higgs played their first Montana’s Brier game against a more experienced Quebec team. Adding to the pressure? A feature-game slot on the nationally televised TSN broadcast. That’s enough to give an experienced Montana’s Brier player some butterflies, never mind a group of rookies ranging from 23 to 25 years old. 

“When I saw the draw, I felt there was a decent chance we’d be the feature game to start, but you never know what to expect. I think we knew we’d be a little nervous, we’d be a little excited, but I thought we handled it pretty well,” Mooibroek said after earning his first career win at the Canadian men’s championship.

Team Mooibroek muzzled any of its doubters by the second end. After Quebec’s final throw ticked a centre guard, Team Mooibroek called and made a short, sharp runback to score five. The shot elicited a cool-and-collected fist pump from Mooibroek and an iconic “Count ’em up!” call from TSN broadcaster Vic Rauter, with the team’s family (including Mitchell’s dad Collin, the 1998 Olympic Games silver medallist) cheering in the stands.

“It was pretty good to make, that’s for sure. I was kind of trying to talk myself into playing it most of the time. I was like, okay, it’s the Brier, do we just draw for three? And everybody liked the hit, so if everybody likes it, you might as well play it,” Mooibroek said.

By the fifth-end break, Mooibroek was firing at 98 per cent shooting efficiency and 86 per cent as a unit. Ontario comfortably led Quebec 10-1. 

Mooibroek, a 2023 U SPORTS champion with Wilfrid Laurier (which swept the 2025 U SPORTS men’s and women’s titles on Friday in Lethbridge, Alta.), has largely been competing with his team on the men’s circuit and has been within striking distance of qualifying for the Montana’s Brier over the past few years. 

Last year, he added Manitoba’s Ryan Wiebe to the lineup, and they’ve found instant chemistry that culminated in them becoming the heir apparent to the Ontario men’s curling throne.

Team Mooibroek earned its ticket to Kelowna by defeating Team Scott Howard in the provincial final and has cemented itself as a young team to keep an eye on in the future. 

“I hope people realize we’ve been grinding away on tour for years now. I think we’re up to 22nd in the world, so it might be our first time here, but it’s not our first time playing teams like this. I think that’s the first time I played Félix and it wasn’t in a final of an event. They’re definitely a good team, and we’ve seen all these guys a million times, so for us it’s kind of just another curling game with a lot of people watching.”

Quebec scored a pair in the sixth and forced Ontario one in the seventh end. Despite cruising to victory, Mooibroek is also quick to point out where his team faltered a bit late in the game and use it as a reminder never to take his foot off the gas.

“I think we played pretty well. The last few ends were a little sketchy, so there’s definitely still work to come, and I think just build on that game and just keep working hard going forward,” he said.

In other games on Sunday morning, Alberta’s Team Jacobs (Calgary) cruised to a 10-3 win against Yukon’s Team Scoffin (Whitehorse); Nova Scotia’s Team Owen Purcell (Halifax) bettered Saskatchewan’s Team Rylan Kleiter (Saskatoon) with a 7-2 win; and Saskatchewan’s Team Mike McEwen of Saskatoon picked up its first win in a 6-4 game against Prince Edward Island’s Team Tyler Smith (Crapaud).

Team Aaron Bartling of the Northwest Territories (Hay River) had the Pool B bye on Saturday afternoon.

The Montana’s Brier continues Saturday with a draws at 6:30 p.m. (all times Pacific).

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2025 Montana’s Brier are available at www.curling.ca/scoreboard/.

TSN and RDS2 will provide complete coverage of the 2025 Montana’s Brier. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule.

For ticket information for the 2025 Montana’s Brier, go to www.curling.ca/2025brier/

This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/2025brier/nouvelles/?lang=fr