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Alberta skip Kevin Koe, right, and brother and NWT/Yukon skip Jamie Koe play against one another during an afternoon page playoff draw at the Tim Hortons Brier in Saskatoon, Sask. Saturday, March, 10, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan HaywardJonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press

Jamie Koe's unforeseen run at the Tim Hortons Brier ended Saturday afternoon as his foursome from Yellowknife lost a playoff game 10-6 to his older brother, Kevin Koe of Calgary.

"It's mixed (emotions), for sure,'' Kevin Koe, the 2010 Brier champion who is representing Alberta, said when asked about eliminating his brother from gold-medal contention.

"But he's had a good week. It's the playoffs — it had to be done.''

Alberta advanced to Saturday night's semifinal against Manitoba's Rob Fowler.

"Now we've got somebody to cheer for tonight,'' said Jamie Koe. "We don't want to play those guys again tomorrow (in the third-place game). Hopefully he wins tonight and we both have good games tomorrow.''

The semifinal winner qualifies for Sunday night's final against Ontario's Glenn Howard inside the Credit Union Centre.

In the first playoff appearance by a rink from the Northwest/Yukon Territories in the history of the Canadian men's curling championship, Jamie Koe's team led 4-3 after five ends before surrendering a deuce in the sixth and a stolen point in the seventh.

A missed takeout in the eighth end allowed Alberta to steal four more points; to keep the television broadcast going the teams played the ninth end before shaking hands. It also allowed Pat Simmons, Alberta's illness-plagued third, to be replaced for the final end by fifth Blake MacDonald.

The Territories will play a bronze-medal match Sunday morning against the semifinal loser.

Ontario had finished the round-robin portion of the event in first place with a 10-1 record. Manitoba placed second, despite having the same 8-3 record as Alberta. The Territories placed fourth at 7-4.



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