Canada’s Gushue settling in at worlds, improves to 3-1
LAS VEGAS (CP) — After a win that felt like an escape, Brad Gushue was thinking about bubbles and how to get in one.
The Canadian skip felt lucky to steal a point in the 10th end for an 8-7 win over Italy’s Joel Retornaz at the men’s world curling championship Monday.
Canada was 3-1 and in contact with frontrunning Niklas Edin of Sweden (5-0). Steffen Walstad of Norway was 4-1.
Gushue was pleased the Orleans Arena ice was quicker and livelier Monday, but the skip felt slow to adapt his reads to the change.
He also felt he, third Mark Nichols, second Brett Gallant and lead Geoff Walker haven’t been able to establish the same routines they did in winning the Canadian championship earlier this month, and the world championship in Edmonton last year.
The arena a short walk from The Orleans hotel means curlers, fans, officials and volunteers continually mix together at the rink, in the hotel and at the pool.
Gushue says his team prefers separation between the event and their down time.
“This whole Vegas thing is, I don’t want to say a distraction, but it’s hard to get into a routine,” Gushue said.
“Here, it’s hard to get away from the event because even when we’re at the hotel, all the fans are there, we can’t get away and we have to find a way to get into a better rhythm.
“I’m certainly going to bring it up amongst the team and see if there’s anything we can do to get any more in our bubble.
“It just doesn’t feel normal for our team right now, at least from my perspective.”
China’s Dejia Zou and South Korea’s ChangMin Kim were 3-2, while Scotland’s Bruce Mouat was 3-1 alongside Canada.
Zou downed Kim 9-4 and the Scots defeated Greg Persinger of the U.S. 7-6 in an extra end.
Russia’s Alexey Timofeev was 2-2 and Japan’s Go Aoki was 2-3.
Italy and Switzerland’s Marc Pfister were tied at 1-3 ahead of Jaap Van Dorp of the Netherlands at 1-4. The U.S. and Germany’s Alexander Baumann were 1-5.
The top six teams in the preliminary round advance to playoffs with the top two getting byes to the Saturday’s semifinals.
Teams three to six square off in quarterfinals earlier Saturday.
Retornaz beat Gushue 7-6 in an extra end during the preliminary round of the 2006 Olympic Games, although Gushue went on to win the gold medal in Turin, Italy.
Retornaz throws third stones and skips the Italian team in Vegas, while 6-foot-6 Amos Mosaner, 22, throws fourth rocks with accuracy on big-weight shots. Canada faces South Korea and Japan today. “The ice was a big improvement (Monday). I think I owe it to the icemakers to at least acknowledge that,” Gushue said. “Again, we had to adjust and we’re still learning. It kind of felt like the first game of an event again where you’re still trying to learn the ice.
“We’ve got to get a little bit more comfortable.”