BACK-TO-BACK OLYMPIC MISSES STILL WEIGHING HEAVILY ON GUSHUE
Skip just got over four-man loss, then was heartbroken again in mixed doubles final
For Brad Gushue, it’s going to take time to pick himself up off the canvas and come out swinging again.
When you focus for four years on becoming the top team in the world and set yourself up to be the favourite to win the Roar of the Rings Olympic Trials, failing to qualify for the Winter Games takes more than five minutes to get over.
When you get a second chance, and make it to the final match of the mixed doubles Olympic trials, only to come up one win short there, too, that’s the double whammy.
What we’re dealing with here this week at the $250,000 Pinty’s Grand Slam Series Canadian Open, when it comes to Gushue, is nothing short of cruel and unusual punishment.
Gushue has owned this event, winning two of the last four.
Now he had to come here and play in a field that includes 11 teams going to the Olympics.
“It’s difficult. It’s tough,” said the Newfoundland skip who finally won a Brier — and the best possible one to win, at home in St. John’s — and then won the world championship in Edmonton. “For me, it took a while to get over the Roar of the Rings team Olympic Trials. It really did.”
Thursday at the noon draw, he lost 6-3 to Mike McEwen of Winnipeg and was down to his last life qualifying for playoff play.
Finally winning a Brier had become Gushue’s focus, but when he finally did it, it was all about getting back to the Olympics and winning a gold medal to match the one he brought home from Torino in 2006.
“For me, not winning the trials was pretty devastating considering all the work we’d put into it over the last three or four years. We were No. 1 ranked in the world. We’d won, I think, six of the seven events we played going in. We’d only lost one game with all four of us in the lineup,” he said, referring to teammates Mark Nichols, Brett Gallant and Geoff Walker.
“We certainly had high expectations. We did get off to a slow start but then started to play well only to run into a hot Mike McEwen. If he doesn’t curl 95 per cent against us, we probably would have had at least a 50-50 chance against Kevin Koe of being the team to get to the Olympics.
“It was tough to swallow because we were so good for so long. It probably took me until I got to the mixed doubles trials to finally get over the trials when, all of a sudden, it happens again.”
Combining with Vegreville’s Val Sweeting, Gushue rolled to within a win of Pyeongchang when the two lost the final to John Morris and Kaitlyn Lawes.
“You get your hopes up. And Val and I played so well,” Gushue said. “It’s kind of like, enough is enough at this point.”
Gushue played last week at the Continental Cup before losing two of his first three here, where you must win three matches before losing three to get to this weekend’s playoffs.
Whatever happens here, he knows he still has the Brier to play wearing Team Canada uniforms.
“Just because we lost the trials and because Val and I lost the doubles trials doesn’t mean the year is a writeoff,” he said. “We’ve already won five or six events this year. There is still a lot to play for with the Grand Slams, the Brier and hopefully the Worlds.
“It’s hard but I’m not going to say the year hasn’t been a success by any means. Only one team gets to go and it’s sometimes a team that’s hot that week. We were fortunate enough to be that team in 2006,” said Gushue of the trials in Halifax 12 years ago, when they defeated overwhelming favourite Jeff Stoughton in the final.
“There are a lot of great players who never had a chance: Glenn Howard, Jeff Stoughton, Randy Ferbey,” Gushue said. “But at this point, I have to admit the mixed doubles is still sticking with me. I’m only a week and a half out.
“It’s probably going to take me another week and a half to move past that. I think getting home will help. I haven’t been home since December 30th. I’m tired. I’m physically tired. I’m mentally tired. I’m emotionally tired. Getting home and spending some time with my family and kids will help. A week and a half back with them will help me get over it and then I’ll be looking forward to the Brier.”
After that, it’s finding the focus for the next four years.
On that front, Gushue has good news. He’s keeping his team together. With lead Walker getting married to Edmonton curler Laura Crocker in May, there was some doubt.
“He’s probably going to spend a lot more time in Alberta than he has in the past couple of years but they now have that rule where you can have one nonresident player.”
It was tough to swallow ... It probably took me until I got to the mixed doubles trials to finally get over the trials when, all of a sudden, it happens again