GUSHUE SETS NEW BRIER STANDARD
Newfoundlander breaks career mark for most wins as skip at national championship
It was so obvious it was going to happen for so long that when it did, it almost went unnoticed.
Brad Gushue set a Brier record here Monday.
Most wins for a skip: 114. With an 8-4 win over Jamie Koe of the Northwest Territories in the morning draw, the defending Brier and world champion passed Russ Howard of Ontario/New Brunswick and Kevin Martin of Alberta, who were tied at 113.
It was news to Gushue when he was told he was about to break a record.
“For what?” he asked. After Monday’s early victory, everybody in the building knew about it thanks to special recognition on the scoreboard.
“I didn’t even know about it until last night,” Gushue said. “I got a little nervous thinking about it, especially when somebody told me I needed to win to do it in the same number of games as Russ took to do it.” Does he remember the first? “I remember it well. It was against Doug Harcourt of Saskatchewan in Halifax,” said Gushue, who is competing in his 15th Brier, which breaks Howard’s record as a skip (14).
Only Ontario’s Glenn Howard, with 18 appearances, has at any position played in more Briers than the Newfoundland skip wearing Team Canada colours. He also won Olympic gold, with Howard as part of his team, at Nagano in 2006.
Right behind him, though, are Brad Chorostkowski of the Northwest Territories and Gushue’s third, Mark Nichols, who are each playing in their 14th Briers. New Brunswick skip James Grattan and N.W.T. skip Jamie Koe made it an even dozen this year.
Glenn Howard has played the most games at 218. Gushue came into this Brier with 172. He passed Russ Howard’s mark of 174 here Monday, as well.
Gushue is also attempting to join Martin, Randy Ferbey, Pat Ryan, Matt Baldwin, Don Duguid, Gordon Hudson and Saskatchewan’s Ernie Richardson (twice) as back-to-back champions.
“Most wins for a skip? That’s cool,” Gushue said.
He thought about it for a second.
“Obviously, it’s easier for a team like ours to get out of Newfoundland than for someone to get out of Manitoba or Alberta or Ontario or any of the top provinces. But what I’m most proud of is that we’ve been competitive. We haven’t just been token (representatives).”
At age 37, he still has 13 more Briers until he hits 50.
“I won’t have 13 more years doing this,” Gushue said with a laugh.
“Injuries start taking a toll when you get up in your 30s and, as you know, I’ve been dealing with one for the last couple of years, so I can’t see myself going through this grind for the next 13 years. But I still love the game enough that I can still see myself doing it for a while. I do see myself continuing on.” Nichols is delighted for his skip. “It’s nice. It just shows we’ve been here a lot,” Nichols said. “We haven’t had that big conversation yet, but the way this team is going I think it would be a shame if we packed it in. We’ve done very well over the last few years, broke through at the Brier and had a great world championship. I think there’s even more that this team can accomplish.”
As for New Brunswick’s Grattan, he said he’s going to keep going.
“It doesn’t get old. I just feel old,” Grattan said.
“I played with Russ Howard and he’s the reason I keep coming to these things. I played with him when he played his last Brier when he was 52. That inspired me to keep plugging away. I’ve got a little guy who is 11 years old and I’m hoping he’ll pick me up as his lead some day.
“I played my 100th game at the Brier in Edmonton and that was a special deal for me,” Grattan said. “I played with Russ (Howard) when he became the skip that had won the most Brier games. And I played with him two years later when he also set the record for most losses in Brier history.” COMPLETE BRIER COVERAGE AT THESTARPHOENIX.COM/SPORTS