Gunnlaugson struggles against Gushue, McEwen takes win on first day of Brier

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This article was published 29/02/2020 (2290 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

KINGSTON, Ont. — Jason Gunnlaugson hasn’t competed in a Brier before but is keenly aware that anything shy of a spotless performance against the high society here won’t cut it.

Team Manitoba struggled with consistency Saturday afternoon in its debut at the Canadian men’s curling championship, out of sorts early due to some nervous energy and clearly perplexed by the ice conditions at Leon’s Centre.

Gunnlaugson’s Morris-based team of third Alex Forrest, second Adam Casey and lead Connor Njegovan might get away with a satisfactory grade against three or four teams in their pool. Former Olympic and world champion Brad Gushue and his sensational crew from St. John’s, N.L., surely isn’t one of them. 

Fuelled by last-rock advantage to begin the game, Gushue, seeded fifth, posted a deuce in the second end and was hand-delivered steals of two in the third and a single in the fourth to seize control, eventually posting an 8-4 victory over Gunnlaugson in nine ends.

The late draw featured a kind of ‘Who’s-on-First?’ scenario on Sheet C. Mike McEwen lives in Winnipeg and plays out of West St. Paul but isn’t even representing Manitoba. Matt Dunstone, meanwhile, is a former Winnipegger now living in Kamloops, B.C., but wearing Saskatchewan green.

McEwen, skipping Team Wild Card, made a hit for one to defeat Dunstone 5-3 at a packed house at the 5,500-seat downtown Kingston arena.

Gushue has won more games — 133 and counting — than any other skip in Brier history. He’s now one-for-one on this grand stage against Gunnlaugson, who admitted success against Gushue has been near-impossible to achieve at Grand Slam and World Curling Tour events in Canada and abroad over the years.

“It’s probably our worst matchup on paper, Brad’s team, and they played great. If you’re going to come out a little flat early, that’s probably the team to do it against in a round-robin. Hopefully, we can bounce back (Sunday),” said Gunnlaugson.

“We don’t have a very good record against Brad. We have a lot of wins against basically the rest of the field but he has always been tough for us. He’s so good. The whole team is so solid. It definitely is a blessing in disguise because it is our first game for the three of us and a loss to Gushue might not hurt you as much as another loss.”

He’s got a point. But that means Manitoba will likely need victories in eight-team Pool B over Jamie Murphy of Nova Scotia, Bryan Cochrane of Prince Edward Island, Jake Higgs of Nunavut and Alek Bedard of Quebec to advance to the eight-team championship pool, because Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs (the WCT’s top-ranked team) and Alberta’s Brent Bottcher will be difficult to handle.

Manitoba curled 80 per cent, hardly an unsightly number. But Gushue’s crew of third Mark Nichols, second Brett Gallant and lead Geoff Walker tossed to a combined 91 per cent.

Gunnlaugson’s team was considerably better in the fifth and sixth ends, pulling to within two points on the strength of some key touch shots. But Gushue used hammer to register a three in the seventh.

The 35-year-old Winnipegger said his outfit figured things out far too late.

“We really started making a lot of draw shots and played really well in the second half of the game. Not so much in the first. I think it’s more just learning the ice. We know it’s a long week,” he said, noting the steal of a pair in the third was particularly self-destructive.

“I was a little amped up maybe. I had a bad slide in (the third end) that really cost us. We had an opportunity for a three which would have made things a little different but it was always going to be high risk and I didn’t throw a good rock and we’re down a bunch to a really good team,” he said. “But as the game went on, we made some precision shots.”

Each of the 16 teams played just once Saturday. Gunnlaugson faces Quebec today at 1 p.m. CT and has a date with Jacobs at 6 p.m. McEwen has a less taxing day, rising to meet Yukon’s Thomas Scoffin at 9 a.m.

McEwen, third Reid Carruthers, second Derek Samagalski and lead Colin Hodgson earned a late invitation to the Brier after defeating Glenn Howard on Friday night in a nerve-rattling play-in game.

He said the fellows were visibly more relaxed against Dunstone. “It makes you especially calm your first game of the Brier. We already had the jitters (Friday). But on the flip side I also felt it was a easy to get a little bit complacent, whereas all these games are as big… they all add up to the end.”

Team Wild Card is in Pool A with defending champion Kevin Koe of Edmonton (Team Canada), John Epping of Ontario, Steve Laycock of British Columbia, Jamie Koe of Northwest Territories, James Gratton of New Brunswick, Yukon and Saskatchewan.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell