Jeff Richard continued to be a thorn in the side of his peers at the 2010 Tim Hortons Brier.

The British Columbia skip gave Alberta’s Kevin Koe fits before a sparse crowd at the Halifax Metro Centre in Draw 6 on Monday morning, eventually knocking his opponent out of the undefeated ranks with a 7-5 win.

Richard, whose vice-skip Tom Shypitka hails from Cranbrook, finished the day at 2-3 after losing 8-7 to Quebec’s Serge Reid in the late draw.

Earlier in the day, Team B.C. stole two in the opening end and kept the pressure on Koe all game. Richard took a single in the seventh to secure a 5-4 lead, then forced Alberta into a single of its own in the eighth.

In the pivotal ninth, Richard pulled off an in-off double for what could have been three. He settled for two on the closest of calls as it took three measurements to determine the 7-5 lead. B.C. then ran Koe out of rocks in the 10th.

The extra point on the measure was critical.

Earlier, in the 12-team tournament, Richard dropped an 8-7 extra-end decision to Manitoba’s Jeff Stoughton and lost a tight 7-6 game to Ontario’s Glenn Howard, both considered favourites like Koe.

“We’ve had an incredibly tough schedule,” said Richard. “We kind of set a goal at the start of the week: if we were 2-2 we would be extremely happy and that’s where we are now. To get into the playoffs you have to beat at least one of the top four favourites and maybe two of them. That was one and we still have one left with (Brad) Gushue later on.”

Richard, who curled 89 per cent in the game compared to Koe’s 78, is no flash in the pan, having lost the 1999 national junior final to recent Olympic gold medallist John Morris, then from Ontario.

“All the credit to him, he didn’t miss many shots and when he did, we didn’t capitalize,” said Koe. “He made a really nice shot in nine to get his two. I tapped mine an inch too far or we steal one for sure, but that’s kinda the way the whole game went.”

In the late draw, Quebec’s Reid scored a a dramatic last-rock victory.

Reid took advantage of Richard’s poor attempt to set up a guard that fell well short of the four foot and left him a lane to draw for two in the 10th end.

Koe rebounded later Monday with a 9-5 win against Saskatchewan’s Darrell McKee. Alberta shares second place with Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador and Stoughton at 4-1.

Howard remains unbeaten at 5-0.

“I think that’s what most people thought coming in and I think it’ll be that way for the rest of the week, although there are a couple of solid teams there in B.C. and Northern Ontario,” said Koe.

Edmonton Journal, with files from Canadian Press