Golden sweep would ease Brad Gushue’s pain
Canadian skip playing hurt with world title in reach: ‘It was a real mental struggle’
EDMONTON— There was a time last summer when Canada skip Brad Gushue didn’t know if he’d be able to play in a single game this season.
A left hip/groin injury that first bothered him in the spring was not progressing the way he expected.
“It was a real mental struggle and emotional too,” Gushue said. “You didn’t know where that light at the end of the tunnel was when I was going to be able to throw again.”
Mark Nichols took over as skip for the first few months with substitutes filling in at third. Gushue eventually returned in December and has continued regular physiotherapy, massage work and stretching routines since.
He has been able to manage the injury this season and his team hasn’t missed a beat.
Gushue’s quest for that elusive Tim Hortons Brier title ended last month and now he’s a win away from becoming a world champion.
Gushue, Nichols, second Brett Gallant and lead Geoff Walker have been dominant this week at the Northlands Coliseum. They swept the 11game round-robin and beat Sweden’s Niklas Edin in the Page playoff 1-2 game on Friday.
On Sunday, Canada will play the winner of Saturday night’s semifinal between Edin and Swiss skip Peter de Cruz.
Gushue and Nichols’ team has managed to stay on top of the rankings despite the unusual first half of the campaign.
Gushue won’t need surgery to repair his injury, which is actually the result of a tilted pelvis.
He plans to take two months over the off-season to strengthen the muscles around the pelvis. He is playing through the pain and has cut back on practice time. Shorter games thanks to blowout wins have also helped minimize his ice time.
During the curling motion, some of Gushue’s muscles can pull more and his pelvis can tilt or slide. At one point, his pelvis dropped two inches.
Now it goes out maybe a half-inch at most.
“It’s constantly getting it back in place and trying to just maintain it right now is all we’re trying to do,” Gushue said. “And get through 24 more hours, to be honest.”
Gushue has come a long way from when he was lying on his with a heat- ing pad on his hip, using his computer to see how his team was doing on the circuit.
Some positives emerged from the situation.
Nichols showed he can lead a team and the front end also grew more confident. Gushue is also mentally fresher.
“Obviously for me it made me hungrier and it made me more focused when I came back this year,” he said.
That focus was evident at the Brier in St. John’s. The team shone over the second half of the round-robin and thrilled the hometown crowd with a victory over 2016 world champ Kevin Koe in the final.
It was Gushue’s first national title in 14 career Brier appearances. The monkey was finally off his back.
“To have that gone, there’s less stress for sure,” Gushue said. “I would imagine over the next 24 hours it’s going to be far less stressful than it was in St. John’s.”
“Far less — emphasize far,” he added with a laugh.
Gushue could become the first skip since Winnipeg’s Kerry Burtnyk to run the table at this event. Burtnyk swept the 10-team field en route to the 1995 title in Brandon, Man.