Gushue makes semifinal at Canada Cup

Brad Gushue snapped Kevin Koe's four-game win streak and earned a spot in the semifinal at the Canada Cup on Friday.

Gushue's rink (4-2) from St. John's, N.L. topped the Calgary skip (4-2) in the late draw 11-6, sending the latter to a tiebreaker against Edmonton's Brendan Bottcher (4-2) on Saturday. Gushue held a tiebreaker over Koe and Bottcher with an advantage in button measurements to advance to the playoffs.

“We're in the semifinals, which is good. The three-way tie, we all beat each other, and we had the best shootout, so fortunately we advance right to the semifinal, which is nice,” said Gushue.

“After our loss (Thursday) it looked like we were going to have to fight our way through tiebreakers if today didn't go as well as it did, but it went perfect and we got right to the semi so we're pretty excited about it.”

Bottcher fell to Koe 10-3 on Friday morning, but rebounded by handing Brad Jacobs his first loss of the tournament 7-6 in late action.

Bottcher made a last-rock double to score two and seal the victory over Jacobs.

“It was three-quarters open and I just had to hit it,” he said.

“For me, it should be a pretty makeable shot, but to get to the playoffs at the Canada Cup there's a little bit more on the line. So just took an extra second in the hack and made sure I nailed it.”

Despite the defeat, Jacobs (5-1) clinched first place and received a bye to the final.

Earlier Friday, Jacobs' rink from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., picked up its fifth win with a 7-6 victory over John Epping.