Gushue unbeaten as Tour Challenge heads to weekend

THUNDER BAY, Ont. Brad Gushue as the St. John’s, N.L., remained perfect at the Tour Challenge with a 63 victory over Scotland’s Ross Paterson on Friday night.

Gushue (4-0) posted a perfect record when he won the Grand Slam of Curling event last year in Regina.

The 11-time GSOC title winner will hold the hammer to start Saturday’s quarterfinals and through the rest of the playoffs should his team advance.

Paterson was eliminated with the loss, holding a 1-3 record.

Gushue will face the winner of the morning tiebreaker between Regina’s Matt Dunstone and Glenn Howard of Penetanguishene, Ont.

Dunstone (2-2) scored a 5-4 win over Switzerland’s Peter de Cruz (3-1) earlier Friday to force the extra game.

Meanwhile, Calgary’s Kevin Koe qualified with a 2-2 record. Koe earned the seventh seed with a 3-1 win over Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.

Jacobs will face American John Shuster in the quarterfinals. Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher battles Rich Ruohonen of the United States, and Koe clashes with De Cruz in the other men’s quarterfinal matches.

On the women’s side, Ottawa’s Rachel Homan faces Edmonton’s Laura Walker, Tracy Fleury of East St. Paul, Man., plays Winnipeg’s Darcy Robertson, Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones collides with Nina Roth of the U.S., and Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Man., goes up against Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni.