1971 Macdonald Brier
The 1971 Macdonald Brier, Canada's national men's curling championship was held March 1–6 at the 2,800 seat Pavilion de la Jeunesse in Quebec City, Quebec. A blizzard 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. After the round robin, three teams (Manitoba, Northern Ontario and Saskatchewan) were tied for first place with identical 8-3 records, forcing a playoff. Lots were drawn to determine the seeds , and Team Manitoba, won the draw and were given the bye into the final. Northern Ontario's Bill Tetley rink won the first playoff match over Saskatchewan's Bob Pickering, but lost to a rested Team Manitoba in the final, 11-6. With the victory, skip Dale Duguid and his team of Rod Hunter, Jim Pettapiece and Bryan Wood became only the third rink to repeat at the Brier, having won the championship in 1970. The team went on to win the 1971 Air Canada Silver Broom World Championship, defending their title there as well. After winning the 1971 World  Championship, Duguid retired from competitive curling, and joined the CBC in 1972 as a curling commentator. Playoff. A two-round playoff was necessitated as three teams had tied for top spot in the event.