MVP Gushue takes place among all-time Brier greats
Brad Gushue’s place in curling’s history books was secure long before he won his second consecutive Canadian men’s championship on Sunday.
Gushue is one of eight skips to capture back-to-back Canadian titles. He did that after drawing the button in the 10th end to ice a 6-4 win over Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher in the final of the Tim Hortons Brier at the Brandt Centre.
Gushue, from St. John’s, N.L., can add the national title to a curling resume that includes Canadian and world junior championships in 2001, a gold medal in men’s curling at the 2006 Winter Olympics, and a 2017 world championship to go with his Brier title.
Sunday’s result before 5,915 spectators also capped another successful Brier for a St. John’sbased men’s curling team.
In 1976, Jack MacDuff, Toby McDonald, Doug Hudson and Ken Templeton captured Newfoundland’s first Brier title, which they celebrated at Exhibition Stadium. McDonald would go on to coach Gushue for many years, including at the Winter Olympics.
“(MacDuff’s title) wasn’t unnoticed by me and Toby is a good friend of mine,” Gushue said Sunday.
“I knew they had won and that they had the help of Sam Richardson. To come back to Regina and win it here is pretty cool. Newfoundland teams have had some success at the Brier in Regina, so when are you getting it back again?”
The difference between Gushue’s championship and MacDuff ’s title was that the latter skip was representing Newfoundland
Gushue won his first Canadian men’s title in 2017, when the Brier was held in his hometown, as the Newfoundland and Labrador champions. In 2018, Gushue returned as the defending Canadian men’s champion and was classified as Team Canada — the same role he’ll fill at the 2019 Brier in Brandon.
“We are Team Canada, but we’re still from Newfoundland and Labrador,’’ said Gushue, who curls with third Mark Nichols, second Brett Gallant and lead Geoff Walker. “We wear both flags really proudly. Just because we have the Maple Leaf doesn’t mean we’re not from Newfoundland and Labrador. We’re proud of being from Newfoundland, and also of wearing the Maple Leaf, as well.”
It was quite the Brier for Gushue, who was named the championship’s most valuable player. It was his 15th appearance at the Brier as a skip, eclipsing the record of 14 held by Ontario’s Russ Howard.
Gushue recorded his 114th Brier victory as a Brier skip on March 4 after beating Jamie Koe of the Northwest Territories. Gushue broke Howard’s Brier record of 113 wins by a skip. Gushue closed out the Brier with 123 wins.
Gushue led all players with a shooting percentage of 93 at the Brier while rolling through the round robin with a 10-1 record. His team curled at a Brier-best 90 per cent.
Gushue even shot 100 per cent in a 6-2 win over Ontario’s John Epping in Saturday’s 1 vs. 2 Page Playoff game.
“A lot things happened this week,” Gushue said. “Breaking the record was a special moment. Winning back-to-backs was a special moment. With the way all of us played, the level we played and the stats that we had, those are unheard of. That’s something later on that we’re going to pat ourselves on the back for.”
Gushue and Co. now advance to the world men’s championship, being contested March 31-April 8 in Las Vegas.
He’s aiming to become the fifth Canadian skip to win back-to-back world championships. Randy Ferbey (2002-03), Don Duguid (197071), Ron Northcott (1968-69) and Ernie Richardson (1959-60 and 1962-63) are the only Canadian skips to win consecutive world titles.
It’s also the first time that Las Vegas has played host to the men’s world championship.
“It will be different, but I’m excited about it,” Gushue said.
“We’re probably going to venture off and enjoy the experience. We will make sure that we are focused.”