Gushue wins the Brier | CTV News
LETHBRIDGE, Alta. –
Brad Gushue’s short-handed Wild Card One staff defeated Alberta’s Kevin Koe 9-8 on Sunday night time to win the Tim Hortons Brier.
Gushue made successful for a single level within the further finish to win the nationwide males’s curling championship for the fourth time in six years.
The St. John’s-based staff needed to play the ultimate weekend with out vice Mark Nichols, who examined optimistic for COVID-19 on Friday. Gushue, Brett Gallant and Geoff Walker carried on as a threesome and curled their finest when it counted essentially the most.
After a loss within the Web page playoff seeding spherical, they reeled off three straight must-wins – together with a 9-3 semifinal victory over Canada’s Brendan Bottcher earlier within the day – earlier than topping Alberta to lift the tankard.
The title got here just some weeks after they received bronze on the Beijing Olympics.
Each groups struggled considerably on the outset as they tried to determine the ice on the Enmax Centre. It was unseasonably heat in Lethbridge on Sunday and the 5,900-seat venue was a near-sellout, which can have had an affect on the sheet.
Gallant flashed a stone within the second finish that led to a Koe deuce. Alberta vice B.J. Neufeld rubbed guards twice within the third finish and Gushue drew for 3 after a Koe runback missed vast.
A Koe faucet for 2 gave Alberta a 4-3 lead into the fifth-end break.
Gushue picked up his second three-ender of the sport within the sixth. Koe cleared one stone on a triple-takeout try and Gushue drew the four-foot to regain the lead.
Koe made successful for 2 to tie the sport within the seventh after Gushue didn’t bury a hit-and-roll try. Gushue was pressured to a single within the eighth and stole some extent within the ninth when Koe’s draw was gentle.
Within the tenth finish, Gushue made a raise-double that left Koe successful for 2 and the tie.
Koe was unable to construct for a steal within the further finish. One Alberta stone was on the 12-foot ring and Koe drew his remaining stone to the four-foot earlier than Gushue cleared it and caught for the victory.
Gushue’s fourth profession Brier title as a skip tied him with Koe, Kevin Martin, Randy Ferbey and Ernie Richardson for high spot on the all-time listing.
It is the primary time {that a} wild-card entry has received the Brier.
Curling Canada first added a play-in sport in 2018 with the winner referred to as Staff Wild Card. The federation went with three wild-card entries final 12 months because of the pandemic and caught with the format this season.
Gushue’s staff earned $108,000 for the victory and can signify Canada on the April 2-10 world males’s curling championship in Las Vegas.
Koe, from Calgary, and his staff of Neufeld, John Morris and Ben Hebert earned $60,000 for silver. Bottcher’s rink claimed $40,000.
Kerri Einarson received her third straight Scotties Match of Hearts title final month. She’ll put on the Maple Leaf on the March 19-27 ladies’s world curling championship in Prince George, B.C.
Gushue will return as Staff Canada on the 2023 Brier on the Budweiser Gardens in London, Ont.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed March 13, 2022.
