Gushue captures third Brier title in four years

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This article was published 08/03/2020 (2201 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

KINGSTON, Ont. — It didn’t trump sensational St. John’s but a Brier victory here Sunday night came as close to it as possible for the Brad Gushue crew.

The fab four from Newfoundland-Labrador is the Canadian men’s curling champion — again. Gushue guided his team to its third Brier title in four years, defeating Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher 7-3 in front of a packed Leon’s Centre that was solidly behind the winning side.

The 39-year-old skipper was razor sharp, firing at 97 per cent in the final. He was 90 per cent or higher in nine of the 14 games he played this week.

Gushue, third Mark Nichols, second Brett Gallant and lead Geoff Walker — champions in their own city in 2017 and again in 2018 in Regina — will represent Canada at the world men’s championship later this month in Glasgow, Scotland.

While nothing tops the wild ride back home three years ago, surviving a long week against, perhaps, the deepest Brier field in history was a colossal accomplishment, he said.

“It’s really hard to compare to St. John’s at home. Certainly, they all feel a little different. We struggled for the last year and a half, and to come back and to play as well as we did against this field, it almost feels better than the second one,” Gushue said.

“(It feels) friggin’ awesome. I don’t know if you can quote that or use it but it feels absolutely incredible. To win in this field, which I believe is probably the strongest field I’ve certainly played in the 17 Briers and to come through and play the game we played (Sunday), that’s special to play your best game in the final.”

Bottcher, 28, who struggled mightily in the opening ends, has lost three consecutive Brier finals. The event’s all-star skip was a mere shadow of himself in the only game that mattered, shooting 71 per cent.

“I think we got off to a slow start, certainly didn’t play our best early and you can’t give that big a lead to those guys,” he said. “I’m so proud of the guys and myself for the week we had. Obviously a little painful coming up short.”

Bottcher missed the mark badly on a shot attempt in each of the first four ends, gift-wrapping a 4-2 lead the Gushue. quartet.

If a flash on an attempted hit for a first-end blank was bothersome and a light draw in the second resulting in a score of just one was aggravating, surely wrecking on a guard to set up Gushue’s double-takeout for three was excruciating.

“We gave him some pretty easy shots. I just think me and the guys needed to shoot a little bit better. We got a little bit fooled. The (ice) conditions were a little different that what we’d seen and, unfortunately, that was the difference.”

Darren Moulding, 37, the charismatic, hard-throwing third for Alberta, couldn’t hide his emotions, nor did he need to after yet another devastating defeat.

“I’m starting to get older so I don’t know how many times I’m gonna be able to get back here. I’m proud of the guys. I just wish it would have turned out different. I know we can play a lot better than that,” he said. The Bottcher front comprises second Brad Thiessen and lead Karrick Martin.

Beyond its own provincial playdown, Team Gushue had gone 18 months without an event victory, shut out in the World Curling Tour and the Grand Slams. They were seeded just fifth in Kingston.

Gushue said a point needed to be made here.

“This is a good one to break the seal. That’s what we were saying on the podium, we finally got off the wagon we were on, losing a bunch of times finals and semifinals, so it’s nice to actually come through and perform in big moments,” he said.

“To be honest we came here with a little bit of a chip on our shoulder. We didn’t get any credit to be one of the favourites. There was a lot of talk about other teams and we were kind of left to the side a little bit. We felt we should have been in there winning two of the last three. Yeah, I think we were highly motivated this week, moreso than we have been the last two years.”

Gushue will defend the Brier title as Team Canada in Kelowna, B.C., next year, and compete at the 2021 Olympic Trials in Saskatoon. They also earned $105,000 in prize money and nearly $170,000 (over the next two years) in Sport Canada funding.

Gushue edged Saskatchewan’s Matt Dunstone 7-6 in the afternoon semifinal.

“This is huge. We’re going to the world championships, we’ve got our Trials spot. It’s massive,” said Gallant. “It’s going to be awesome (representing Canada) and back to the Brier again in 12 months with the Team Canada on. It’s going to be sweet. Being Team Canada never gets old.”

That opens the door for someone else to represent the Rock. Only twice since 2003 has someone not named Gushue skipped Newfoundland-Labrador. He was winning Olympic gold in 2006 and was a return Brier champion in 2018.

Said Gushue with a grin: “There’s men’s curling teams that are super excited that we won’t be in the (provincials) next year.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell