BRIER FINAL IN SIGHT
Gushue eyeing showdown
The Page playoff between the top two seeds at the Canadian men’s curling championship showcases the best two teams of the preliminary round.
Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs and Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador will square off Friday evening at the Tim Hortons Brier, with the winner advancing directly to Sunday’s championship game.
The loser can still get to the final, but has to win Saturday’s semifinal against the victor of the playoff between the third and fourth seeds earlier that day.
The latter two playoff berths were still up for grabs heading into Thursday night’s draw at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Because it’s a non-elimination game, that one-two game has the potential to be even better than the final, says Gushue. There’s less chance of missing routine shots because of nervousness and adrenaline.
“I actually think the calibre of game will probably be better because you do have a second life and the nerves probably aren’t going to be as extreme knowing that ‘if I miss this, we’re eliminated,’ the Newfoundland skip said.
“From watching it in the past, the one-two games are usually wellcurled games, much better than the final and the semifinal because those are sudden death.”
Gushue’s 6-5 win over Jacobs in Thursday morning’s draw set up Friday’s duel. It was Northern Ontario’s first loss of the tournament and they dropped to 9-1, but still ahead of Newfoundland at 8-2.
Both teams were guaranteed a top-two finish when the preliminary round concludes Friday morning. Both had one more game to play Thursday night.
Team Canada at 7-3 and Saskatchewan’s Steve Laycock at 6-3 had the inside track on the other two playoff berths, while Quebec’s Jean-Michel Menard remained in tiebreaker territory at 6-4.
With five losses apiece, Alberta’s Kevin Koe, B.C.’s Jim Cotter and Manitoba’s Reid Carruthers weren’t mathematically eliminated from a tiebreaker, but needed Laycock to lose his last two games of the round-robin.
Northern Ontario had its toptwo position locked up by Wednesday. Jacobs had trailed in just one of 82 ends prior to facing Gushue, but the reigning Olympic champions uncharacteristically gave up a steal of one in both the second and third ends. After trading singles, Jacobs scored three in the seventh to tie it up. Gushue had the hammer coming home with the score tied and got his one.
“We’re just going to try and play the one-two game smart.,” Jacobs said. “We know what game really matters at this point.”