Gushue’s done it all — but he’s not done
‘I’m playing with house money’
Brad Gushue has a full REGINA house when it comes curling championships.
Among the accomplishments on the resume of the Newfoundland and Labrador skip are the 2017 Canadian and world men’s championships, a gold medal in men’s curling at the 2006 Winter Olympics, and Canadian and world junior men’s titles.
But Gushue, who is in Regina for the Tour Challenge Grand Slam of Curling, isn’t satisfied.
“When I was a teenager, I wrote all of my goals on a sheet of bristol board and I’ve achieved them all,” Gushue said in advance of Tuesday’s opening draw. “Like any athlete, business person or artist, you’re constantly evaluating your goals and you change them. The focus is on trying to get back to another Olympics, another Brier or to another worlds.”
The 37-year-old broke through at the men’s national level when he won the Brier in his hometown of St. John’s, N.L. The Canadian title was Gushue’s first in 14 appearances at the Brier.
“After finally getting winning the Brier off my back, I feel like I’m playing with house money,” Gushue said. “What really keeps me going is I love to play and I would love to get back to another Olympics. I would love to get another Brier and another world championship. I love competing and I feel that I’m playing as well as I ever have. Mark (Nichols, third) is the same way, as is our team.”
There are perks that come with playing as well as Gushue, Nichols, second Brett Gallant and Geoff Walker did through the 2017 championship season.
They have already qualified for the Roar of the Rings Canadian Olympic team trials, set for Dec. 2 to 10 in Ottawa, after medalling at the world championship. One men’s and one women’s team from the trials will represent Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeong Chang, South Korea.
Gushue has also qualified for the 2018 Brier (March 3 to 11 at the Brandt Centre) as the defending Canadian men’s champion.
“I want to make the most of this because there are a lot of great curlers that haven’t been blessed with having the team we have right now,” Gushue said.
“They could be great curlers, but they don’t get much of a resume because they don’t have the three guys around them. I want to get as much out of this team as we can over the next number of years.”
Sixty men’s and women’s teams are taking part in the Tour Challenge, which is split into two tiers. Tier 1 features the top 15 men’s and women’s teams from the World Curling Tour’s Order of Merit. Tier 2 also features 15 men’s and 15 women’s teams, and five spots in each were awarded to Saskatchewan-based squads.
The Tour Challenge runs through Sunday. Sportsnet has live coverage of selected round robin matches, which start Thursday, and the playoff rounds.