Not bad is not good enough for Gushue
It hasn’t been a terrible season so far for the defending Brier champions, but skip says ‘we have to clean it up’
Brad Gushue is hardly complaining. He knows more than anyone there are teams on the World Curling Tour who would trade brooms with him and the reigning two-time Tim Hortons Brier champs from St. John’s any day of the week.
But let’s put it this way: Gushue is like a kid who gets a car from his parents on his 17th birthday. Only the car is a 15-year-old sedan.
You know, you’re thankful, but …
“We’re not necessarily that bad, but we’re not necessarily that good, either,” lamented Gushue this week, after an opening-night loss to the Swiss upstart Yannick Schwaller at the Boost National spiel in Conception Bay South on Tuesday.
At 28-10 entering the National, Gushue, Mark Nichols, Brett Gallant and Geoff Walker are among the Tour leaders in team rankings and money earnings, and currently lead the Pinty’s Cup standings, a Grand Slam points system.
They’ve curled in a halfdozen events, winning one — the Princess Auto Elite 10 back in September — and finished runner-up in the China Open and Stu Sells Halifax 1824 Classic.
Then there’s a semifinal berth at the Canada Cup last weekend, and a pair of quarterfinal Grand Slam appearances, in the Masters and Tour Challenge.
“For me to sit here and say we’re not playing very good would be a lie,” he said.
So too it would be to suggest they’ve lights out.
“We’re not playing a clean game,” Gushue said after losing 8-6 to Schwaller, a game in which the Swiss skip stole three points and won it in an extra end on a fine runback double takeout.
“We’re getting what I would consider big misses.
“And I don’t mean in big moments. A flash here, or a hog line there, or a rock that goes back eight foot when we’re looking for top 12.
“Brain cramps, if you know what I mean.
“We’re getting those that really swing the momentum in an end, or cause us to struggle. That was one of those games (vs Schwaller). And we’re all guilty of it.”
At C.B.S. Tuesday night, each of the four Team Gushue members flubbed shots at different points in the game. Gushue was light on a shot which led to a steal of two in the sixth end, and Walker hogged one of his shots in the extra end.
In the Canada Cup semifinal last Sunday in Estevan, Sask., Gushue attempted a thin double to score two points that would have given him the win, but couldn’t quite pull it off, allowing Kevin Koe to steal for a third straight end and get the win.
Gushue was hoping to get on the winning side of the ledger Wednesday against Scotland’s Ross Paterson (go online at the thetelegram.com for the result of that matchup).
This is the first year of the four-year quadrennial leading up to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Gushue’s team has cut back on its early-season schedule, electing not to make its usual trek to Switzerland and the Baden Masters, or enter two high-profile September events in Ontario, the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard and Shorty Jenkins Classic.
Last season, their season started in August with the Everest Challenge in New Brunswick.
“You could make that argument,” he said when asked if there’s a correlation between the team’s alleged sluggish play and a light schedule so far this season, “though I don’t necessarily buy into that.
“You still have to look at things from a positive standpoint. We played six events, won one, lost in the final in two, lost in the semis and lost two quarters. That’s not bad.
“But I just think the standard we set over the last four years is pretty high, and I don’t think we’ve lived up to it at this point of the season.
“It could be the schedule, it could be just the first year in the quadrennial and we’re just easing ourselves into it. It could be a lot of factors.”
The team has another free entry into the Tim Hortons Brier this season in Brandon, Man., as the reigning champs.
And clearly, it’s the Brier and the quest for a three-peat that’s the big carrot in 2019.
The last team to win three Canadian men’s championships in a row in the Randy Ferbey rink from Edmonton, which accomplished the feat from 2001-03.
“I not too concerned with the way we’re playing,” Gushue said. “It’s (first rocks in Brandon) is a long ways away.
“But we have to improve, for sure. We have to clean it up. We’re nowhere near the level we were at in St. John’s or Regina last year. We have to sharpen up, but we have lots of time. The benefit we have as Team Canada is we get a lot of time to practice and get our game in shape. I’m not too concerned at this point.”
“We’re getting what I would consider big misses. And I don’t mean in big moments. A flash here, or a hog line there, or a rock that goes back eight foot when we’re looking for top 12. Brain cramps, if you know what I mean.”
Brad Gushue