The 1971

Macdonald Brier The Brier ('), known since 2024 as the Montana's Brier for sponsorship reasons, is the annual Canadian men's curling championship, sanctioned by Curling Canada. The Brier has been held since 1927, traditionally during the month of March. The w ...

, Canada's national men's

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide #Curling stone, stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take t ...

championship was held March 1–6 at the 2,800 seat Pavilion de la Jeunesse in

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. A

blizzard A blizzard is a severe Winter storm, snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow th ...

hit the city late in the week, and was blamed for low attendance. One draw had to be cancelled due to the blizzard, and curlers had to be shuttled from the rink to their hotels on snowmobiles.

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on p ...

, and

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

all finished round robin play with 8-2 records, necessitating a tiebreaker playoff between the three teams to determine the Brier championship. Despite Saskatchewan defeating both Manitoba and Northern Ontario in round robin play, lots were drawn to determine the seeds. Team Manitoba won the draw and were given a bye into the final. Team Manitoba, who was skipped by

Don Duguid Donald Gordon Duguid (born January 25, 1935) is a Canadian champion curler. A three-time winner of the Canadian Brier and two-time World Curling champion, Duguid won the Brier in 1965, 1970 and 1971, and the Worlds in 1970 and 1971. He was onl ...

ended up capturing the Brier Tankard by beating Northern Ontario in the final 11-6 as Northern Ontario skip Bill Tetley conceded in the final end. Northern Ontario earlier advanced to the final with a 10-9 victory over Saskatchewan. This was the fourth time in Brier history in which a three-way tiebreaker determined the championship with the other instances being in , , and . This was also the last tiebreaker playoff to determine a champion prior to the institution of the playoffs in . This was Manitoba's eighteenth Brier championship overall. Duguid became only the fifth skip to ever win back-to-back Briers joining

Gordon Hudson Gordon Lynn Hudson (June 22, 1962 — September 27, 2021) was an American professional football player who was a tight end in the United States Football League (USFL) and National Football League (NFL) for three seasons during the 1980s. Hud ...

Matt Baldwin Mathew Martyn Baldwin, Order of Canada, CM (May 3, 1926 – April 8, 2023) was a Canadian curling, curler from Edmonton, Edmonton, Alberta. He was a three-time Brier champion skip in the 1950s, and his success, coupled with his colourful charisma ...

, Ernie Richardson (twice), and Ron Northcott to ever accomplish that feat. Duguid's team ( Rod Hunter, Jim Pettapiece, and

Bryan Wood Bryan Wood (born 3 April 1954) is a former Australian rules football player who played in the Victorian Football League (VFL) between 1972 and 1982 for the Richmond Football Club and between 1983 and 1986 for the Essendon Football Club ...

) joined Richardson's

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

and

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

teams as they only rinks to have won back-to-back Briers with the same four team members. Duguid's rink would represent

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in the

1971 Air Canada Silver Broom The 1971 Air Canada Silver Broom, the men's world curling championship, was held from March 16 to 21 at the Palais de Sports in Megève, France. Teams ''*Throws third rocks.'' Standings Results Draw 1 Draw 2 Draw 3 Draw 4 Dr ...

, which was the men's

world curling championship The World Curling Championships are the annual world championships for curling, organized by the World Curling Federation and contested by national championship teams. There are men's, women's and mixed doubles championships, as well as men's an ...

in which they also defended their title from the previous year. After winning the 1971 World Championship, Duguid retired from competitive curling, and joined the

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

in 1972 as a curling commentator.

Teams

Map of teams

Round-robin standings

Round-robin results

All draw times are listed in

Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. * Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five hours behi ...

( UTC−05:00)

Draw 1

''Monday, March 1, 3:00 pm''

Draw 2

''Monday, March 1, 8:00 pm''

Draw 3

''Tuesday, March 2, 9:00 am''

Draw 4

''Tuesday, March 2, 2:30 pm''

Draw 5

''Wednesday, March 3, 2:30 pm''

Draw 6

''Wednesday, March 3, 8:00 pm''

Draw 7

''Thursday, March 4, 9:00 am''

Draw 8

''Thursday, March 4, 2:30 pm''

Draw 9

''Friday, March 5, 9:00 am''

Draw 10

''Friday, March 5, 2:30 pm''

Draw 11

''Friday, March 5, 8:00 pm''

Tiebreakers

Semifinal

''Saturday, March 6, 9:00 am''

Final

''Saturday, March 6, 1:00 pm''

Awards

All-Star Team

The media selected the following curlers as All-Stars.BRIER INDIVIDUAL AWARDS & ALL-STAR TEAMS
/ref>

Ross G.L. Harstone Award

The Ross Harstone Award was presented to the player chosen by their fellow peers as the curler who best represented Harstone's high ideals of good sportsmanship, observance of the rules, exemplary conduct and curling ability.

Notes

References

Curling Canada: 1971 Macdonald Brier
*''2018 Brier Media Guide: Previous Rosters''
Results at CurlingZone
{{Canadian Men's Curling Championships 1971 in curling

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

Curling competitions in Quebec City 1971 in sports in Quebec March 1971 sports events in Canada 1971 in Canadian curling 1970s in Quebec City