OLDS, Alta. – Brad Gushu has completed the latest chapter of his legendary curling career, winning his 13th career in the Pinty Men’s Grand Slam Curling Championship.
Gushue and his crew from St. John’s, the Netherlands, defeated Kevin Coe’s club in Calgary 8-5 to win the season’s final KIOTI Tractor Champions Cup men’s title on Sunday at the Olds Sportsplex.
“It feels great,” Gushu said. “It’s a great way to end an amazing season for us. We played extremely well, we had many big victories, some disappointments, but these disappointments make the victories even more satisfying. ”
Not only did this end an incredible season for the team that represented Canada twice – winning bronze at the Winter Olympics and silver at the World Cup – but it was also the last event for Gushu, third Mark Nichols and host Jeff Walker with second Brett Galant. who moved to Alberta before next season and joined Brendan Botcher.
The Gushue team won the Masters in 2014 in their first GSOC tournament as a whole and retained their 12th place. The four also won an Olympic bronze medal, a gold and two silver medals at the World Championships, plus four Briar titles in an incredible era.
“Really for us, we just wanted to end this escape with Brett with a victory,” Gushu said. “We felt that this was a worthy way to end the success we have achieved over the last eight years, and I am glad that we have succeeded. The ice was amazing this week. The crowd was amazing. It was a great Grand Slam event. ”
Gushue banked $ 25,000 in the $ 210,000 combined prize bag, while Koe, third John Morris, second BJ Neufeld and host Ben Hebert won $ 17,000.
The KIOTI Tractor Champions Cup was also the final for Team Koe. Morris retires from men’s curling, Neufeld goes to play with Matt Dunstone, and Hebert joins Galant in the new Team Bottcher. Koe’s new team includes third Tyler Tardy, second Brad Thyssen and host Carrick Martin.
Team Koe started strong, holding the hammer at the first end when Morris made a pair of perfect double raises, and the jump itself was also sharp with a few soft touches to score a pair.
Coe began to show signs of being second in the second by attempting a double slash, which allowed Gushue to ease his last in the eight-foot circle for two equalizing points.
How overturning the table as a theft was the story for Gushue to build a six-point command advantage after stealing a ton over three consecutive ends.
Koe rolled deep into the back of the house on his first jumping stone in three and Gushue bit the top of the button, buried to count at least a few counters with a potential third also in the mix. This put Coe in damage control mode – and he committed a theft – but things went from bad to worse in the fourth, when his attempt at a runback embraced and pushed his guard off the line to miss the target and give up critical theft of three lagging behind 6-2.
Gushue did not back down from the pressure valve and put two counters in the heel to force Koe to try a long-angle raise that affected both to make it 8-2.
There were some signs of life in the game in the sixth end when Gushue pinned his last and Koe killed him by three points to reduce the deficit to half 8-5.
Nichols cleaned the house for Team Gushue at the seventh end with a double performance to the delight of the audience. Although the tournament took place in Koe’s backyard up the road from Calgary, several fans waved Newfoundland flags and erupted in the chanting “Let’s go, Gu-shue.” Of course, it was a pro-Coe crowd, chanting “Coe, Coe, Coe, oh, oh, oh.”
However, Coe had nowhere to hide, and he cleared the house with a double removal, then backed off before Gushu could throw his last stone.
“I felt like we were putting pressure on the whole game,” said Gushu, whose team overtook Coe’s four by 90 percent to 79 percent. “Even at the first end, John made two double lifts that turned things around. We seemed to have a fake theft, and suddenly they could score four if I didn’t do well in my last one.
“Except maybe at the third end, when we got into a little trouble, I had the feeling that we were in control of the game. I had the feeling that we had beaten them and it was good. We had a few omissions, which is nice and made it a little easier than I thought it would be. ”
NEXT
Pinty’s 2022-23 Grand Slam curling campaign started with Boost National, Oct. 4-9, at Memorial Gardens in North Bay, Ont. Full event passes are now available for all six events for next season, visit thegrandslamofcurling.com/tickets for more information.
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