Gushue hoping 12th time the charm
CALGARY — In case you’re the least bit curious, Brad Gushue doesn’t feel as if it’s the longest-running curse this side of King Tut’s tomb. Or the Chicago Cubs.
He has not, ever, graced the cover of Sports Illustrated or curling’s equivalent of the Madden NFL for EA Sports game. Won’t buy into sinister explanations of voodoo or hexes or any manner of dabbling in the dark arts.
The next week or so, he won’t be privately asking for divine intervention or even for fickle Dame Fate to at long last clear up a few outstanding accounts.
That baggage was dropped off at a distant claim check a while ago.
“We had a four- or fiveyear stretch there,” admits the lavishly decorated 34-year-old Newfoundland and Labrador skip, “where, I’ll admit, I felt pretty snakebit coming to the Brier.
“We had some opportunities we missed out on. And we had some guys make some incredible shots to beat us. Back-to-back years, I think, (Jeff) Stoughton made a double-raise for two to beat us, then (Kevin) Koe drew the pin to beat us.
“And it’s over, you’re out and you’re kinda like, ‘Geez, what do I need to do?’”
Will 2015 at long last be his year?
This edition marks Gushue’s 12th trip to a Brier and to date, a berth in the 2007 final against Ontario’s Glenn Howard at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ont., — a 10-6 loss — is the closest Gushue has come.
Not that it qualifies him as a curling equivalent to Dan Marino or Karl Malone.
Outside of this event, as prestigious as it may be, the man has won virtually everything else the sport has to offer.
A couple of world junior titles.
Three Grand Slam championships.
Olympic gold at Turin, Italy, in 2006.
A tidy sum on the cashspiel circuit.
The roadblock he continues to run into every year roughly at this time — be the venue London, Ont., or Saskatoon, Edmonton, Kamloops, B.C., Halifax or Calgary — ranks as one of curling’s truly crazy quirks.
“But being a little bit older and more mature you realize you just gotta play better. Bottom line,” he says.
“You play a little sharper and you’re the one with the last rock coming home, you’re probably the one making that shot against them instead of the other way around. We’ve really been just a shot or two short on several occasions.
“You just gotta keep putting yourself into that situation and eventually things are going to fall into place.”
There were the growing pains for sure.
“The first few times,” says Gushue, “we simply weren’t good enough. As a young team, we took our lumps on a national stage, where a guy like Kevin Koe took his lumps on a provincial stage. When you’re 25, 26 years old, there’s not a whole lot of players out there capable of winning a Brier. For us, I was getting to the Briers in my early 20s when I was still learning the game and unfortunately made a lot of mistakes on national TV.
“I really feel out of the 11 (previous) times we’ve been here, only on four or five occasions have we had a truly realistic chance of winning. The other ones were just experience-gainers.”
As for the here and now, Gushue and his gang from the Bally Haly Country Club in St. John’s arrive for the 2015 Brier in fine fettle. They’ve overcome a bumpy start to the season to currently sit second on the World Curling Tour money list at just over $83,000 pocketed.
And, more vitally, old compadre Mark Nichols is back at third after a couple of campaigns with Jeff Stoughton’s team.
“Mark,” says the skip, “just brings a little more experience. The last couple years with the group that we had, there was a lot of talent, but we missed that experience. It means a lot. Curling’s a game where there are so many little intricacies that the longer you’re around, the more you know, the better you’re equipped to handle situations.
“Having Mark, who grew up with me and went through a lot of battles with me, it’s been easier to relate in pressure situations than the last couple of years. He’s added some value to the guys at the other end.”
About the only downside could be the extended break heading into this Brier. Time off: help or hindrance?
“From a positive standpoint, it gave us some rest, we weren’t on the road. We were with our families and we got some quality practice time at home. On the negative side, you miss that game sharpness, that competitive sharpness, you get from playing every week or every two weeks.
“We’ve tried to play some games over the past couple weeks, but it’s hard to match the intensity of an event. We’re hoping that we can. The last thing you want is to get three or four games into it and only then realize ‘Hey, we’re OK.’
“By then you might have a couple losses under your belt. It’s going to be important for us to get off to a fast start and find that game sharpness as quickly as possible.”
So no talk of curses or hexes or past frustrations. Full steam ahead.
“Of all the teams we’ve had, along with the way the season has gone,” he maintains, “I think this is our best chance. I really do. (Mike) McEwen has easily been the best team thus far and he didn’t even get here. “That’s a real opening. “I think us, (Brad) Jacobs and Koe are having pretty good years. You go down the list to (Steve) Laycock and (John) Morris and (Jean-Michel) Menard and the rest … and you realize there’s a lot of teams capable of winning this thing.
“But I feel if we play the way we’re capable of, we’ll be there at the end of the week and then it just comes down to making the right shot at the right time and maybe catching that break.
“If you can do that, you can win the Brier.” He can win the Brier. It’d be a helluva story.