Gushue draws it up perfect
REGINA — It took Brad Gushue several years to win his first Canadian men’s curling championship. His second didn’t take nearly as long.
Gushue downed Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher 6-4 in Sunday’s final for a second straight Canadian title.
Gushue, third Mark Nichols, second Brett Gallant and lead Geoff Walker will represent Canada at the men’s world championship in Las Vegas from March 31 to April 8.
Up 5-4 coming home with hammer and an Alberta stone on the four-foot rings, Gushue drew the button with just his second draw of the entire game for the victory.
“Felt really good on the throw,” the skip said. “Obviously Brett and Geoff sweeping that, you just can’t throw heavy and they judged it to perfection.”
The foursome went undefeated en route to winning last year’s world title in Edmonton.
They’re the first team to win back-to-back Briers since Kevin Martin in 2008 and 2009.
Gushue won his first Brier in 2017 after 13 tries and a pair of runner-up results.
After near-misses for the championship, the pressure on him to win in his hometown of St. John’s N.L., last year was immense.
“This week was so different than last year,” Gushue said. “I don’t ever want to say it was easy, but the fact we were playing so well, we felt so confident, so in control the whole week. We knew if we kept doing that, we’d give ourselves a chance and we did.
“It’s a completely different feeling. These are definitely different feelings and different wins, but both are real special.”
Gushue’s team out of the Bally Hally Curling Club dropped only one game in the preliminary round — a 10-7 decision to Alberta — and carried an overall shooting percentage of 91 per cent heading into the final.
Curling Canada changed the format of the national men’s and women’s championships this year to accommodate 16 teams in each.
So the semifinal was played earlier Sunday, instead of its traditional Saturday. Bottcher beat Ontario’s John Epping 6-4 to earn a showdown with Gushue.
Alberta got its first deuce of the final in the ninth, but was still down a point coming home without hammer.
Gushue hit against two in the eighth end to lead 5-2.
After blanking the sixth, Bottcher’s final draw of the seventh overcurled behind a long guard. Gushue had an open hit, so the Alberta skip drew against two stones and trailed 4-2.