Howard’s end
Gushue passes Russ, and Kevin Martin, to become the winningest skip in Brier history
REGINA — It was so obvious it was going to happen for so long, when it did it almost went without notice.
Brad Gushue set a Brier record here Monday. Most Wins, Skip: 114. The defending Brier and world champion, with an 8-4 win over Jamie Koe of the Northwest Territories in the morning draw, passed Russ Howard of Ontario/New Brunswick and Kevin Martin of Alberta, both of whom were tied at 113.
It was news to Gushue when your correspondent informed him Sunday evening that his next win would give him a record. “For what?” he said. “Most wins by a skip.”
“I had no idea.”
After Gushue finalized the win over Jamie Koe, everybody in the building knew about it thanks to special recognition on the scoreboard.
“I didn’t even know about it until last night,” Gushue told he post-game media scrum. “I got a little nervous thinking about it — especially when somebody told me that I needed to win to do it in the same number of games as Russ took to do it.”
He was asked about the first one.
“I remember it well. It was against Doug Harcourt of Saskatchewan in Halifax and I had to draw the four foot to win.”
In his 15th Brier, Gushue also broke Russ Howard’s record as a skip. Howard curled in 14.
Only Ontario’s Glenn Howard, with 18 appearances, has played in more Briers than the St. John’s, Nfld. skip, who won Olympic gold at Nagano in 2006.
Right behind him, though, are Brad Chorostkowski of the Northwest Territories and Gushue’s third Mark Nichols, who are playing in their 14th Briers. New Brunswick skip James Grattan and NWT skip Jamie Koe have both made it an even dozen.
Glenn Howard has played the most Brier games at 218. Gushue came into this Brier with 172. He passed Russ Howard with 174 here Monday as well.
Gushue is attempting to join Martin, Randy Ferbey, Pat Ryan and Matt Baldwin, Manitoba’s Don Duguid and Gordon Hudson and Saskatchewan’s Ernie Richardson (twice) as backto-back champions.
“Most wins for a skip? That’s cool,” said Gushue.
He thought about it for a second.
“Obviously, it is easier for a team like ours to get out of Newfoundland than for someone to get out of Manitoba or Alberta or Ontario or any of the top provinces. But what I’m most proud of is that we’ve been competitive. We haven’t just been token.”
At age 37, he still has 13 more Briers until he hits 50.
“I won’t have 13 more years doing this,” laughed Gushue, who was 3-0 out of the gate despite devastating losses in the semifinal of the Roar of the Rings Olympic Trials and again in the final of the Mixed Doubles Olympic Trials.
“As Marc Kennedy alluded to in his release, he’s stepping away because of injuries he’s been dealing with. Injuries start taking a toll when you get up in your 30s and as you know I’ve been dealing with one for the last couple of years so I can’t see myself going through this grind for the next 13 years. But I still love the game enough that I can still see myself doing it for a while. I do see myself continuing on.”
Nichols is delighted for his skip.
“It’s nice. It just shows we’ve been here a lot. We haven’t had that big conversation yet but the way this team is going I think it would be a shame if we packed it in. We’ve done very well over the last few years, broke through at the Brier and have a world championship. I think there’s even more than this team can accomplish.”
Grattan said he’s going to keep going.
“It doesn’t get old. I just feel old,” Grattan said.
“I played with Russ Howard and he’s the reason I keep coming to these things. I played with him when he played his last Brier when he was 52. That inspired me to keep plugging away. I’ve got a little guy who is 11 years old
and I’m hoping he’ll pick me up as his lead one day.
“I played my 100th game at the Brier in Edmonton and that was a special deal for me. I played with Russ Howard when he became the skip that had won the most Brier games. And I played with him two years later when he also set the record for most losses in Brier history.”