Gunnlaugson going to Olympic Trials

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This article was published 31/10/2021 (1599 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jason Gunnlaugson’s curling team is finally in the position it intended to be in all along.

Taking advantage of a crucial second chance, the crew from Morris earned the right to join a collection of the country’s finest men’s teams at the upcoming Canadian Olympic Trials.

Gunnlaugson upended Tanner Horgan of Kingston, Ont., 9-8 on Sunday morning in Liverpool, N.S., to qualify for the Trials, set for Saskatoon Nov. 20-28.

Just nine men’s teams, including Mike McEwen of West St. Paul, will fight to represent Canada at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

“The team has worked so hard and continued to get better, went through a couple of Briers and did a lot to be one of the teams at these big events,” Gunnlaugson said, by phone. “Saskatoon will be a great opportunity for us to — as much as we can — show we belong. That’s the next step for us and we’re excited for it.”

Horgan joined the party, too, rebounding in the evening to knock off curling royalty, Ontario’s Glenn Howard, by a 7-4 count.

Last month, Gunnlaugson failed to capitalize on much better odds at a five-team, direct-entry event, leaving Ottawa without one of two spots on the line. McEwen and former Winnipeg skip Matt Dunstone, now playing out of Saskatchewan, seized those berths.

But the 37-year-old skip and his team of Charlottetown-based third Adam Casey, second Matt Wozniak and lead Connor Njegovan won four of six round-robin games in their pool and then defeated Howard and Horgan in the playoffs to get the job done.

In all, 14 teams jockeyed for the last two Trials berths.

Gunnlaugson will make his fourth consecutive trip to the Trials, although the last two were as an alternate. He’ll skip for the first time since 2009 when he, Justin Richter, Braden Zawada and Tyler Forrest stumbled their way to a 0-7 record in Edmonton.

A dozen years ago, the chaps were just thrilled to be there. This time, Gunnlaugson goes in feeling far more worthy, with lofty expectations.

“The first time we did it a million years ago, we were a little more jovial. But here, we felt we earned, over the last quadrennial, to be top-9 in Canada,” Gunnlaugson said. “To come through and do it here means a ton.”

It’s been an intriguing two years for the team.

Casey joined Gunnlaugson, former third Alex Forrest and Njegovan as an import in time for the 2019-20 curling season, and the quartet captured the provincial men’s title and played at the Brier in Kingston, Ont.

When Forrest stepped away after the season, Wozniak, who was with McEwen when the Winnipeggers lost the 2017 Trials final to Alberta’s Kevin Koe, was recruited to join the front end, elevating Casey to third. The foursome donned Manitoba colours at the ’21 Brier inside the Calgary bubble.

“We’ve worked really hard at getting everybody together and on the same page. It’s tough to do but I think we got there,” said Gunnlaugson. With Adam, with both he and I, we’ve kind of hitting our stride as far as knowing what each other is doing on the ice.

“The pandemic was hard on everybody but it made it challenging for the logistics for our team. We’re trying to slowly get out of that mentality and start building again.”

In the pivotal matchup, Gunnlaugson assumed control with a huge three in the eighth end to lead 8-5, however, Horgan jumped on a pair of errant deliveries to post a three of his own.

Calming himself in the hack in the 10th, Gunnlaugson tossed his final rock against two opposition counters, then hollered encouragement as Wozniak and Njegovan dragged it for shot stone.

“We got the draw we wanted. We had just swept one there in the eighth (end) for a third point so we knew the spot pretty good,” said Gunnlaugson. “It was just, ‘Make sure you don’t throw it too hard and let the boys go do their thing.’ They train every day for this and they had a great sweep there.”

The addition of the Gunnlaugson gang bolsters an already powerful Manitoba presence at the Trials.

Olympic champion Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg, Kerri Einarson of Gimli and Tracy Fleury of East St. Paul will all compete in the nine-team women’s field. Ontario’s Krista McCarville and Jacqueline Harrison each secured berths in Liverpool, joining Kelsey Rocque, Laura Walker and Casey Scheidegger, all of Alberta, and former Olympian Rachel Homan of Ontario.

Gunnlaugson, McEwen, Horgan, Dunstone and Koe are joined by Brendan Bottcher of Alberta, John Epping and Brad Jacobs of Ontario, and Brad Gushue of Newfoundland-Labrador.

Pat Simmons, guiding a Winnipeg Beach team of third Colton Lott, second Kyle Doering and Tanner Lott, was thumped 9-2 by Howard on Sunday afternoon to bow out of the event.

Horgan, who tried his fortunes in Manitoba with Doering and the Lott brothers for the 2019-20 season, was brilliant in dispatching Howard to seize his first-ever Trials berth.

He’s the younger brother of Fleury, while another sibling, Jacob, is the alternate for the Horgan squad.

 

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell