[Mowich]

Tomorrow, April Fool's Day, Team Canada aka Team Gushue will take on the Swiss team of Peter de Cruz ranked third in the world after Team Edin and Team Gushue respectively, in one of the opening draws of the championship being held in Edmonton AB.

First draw gets underway at 1PM PT/4PM ET on TSN 1/3/5

Full draw schedule:

http://www.tsn.ca/2016-17-curling-broad ... e-1.593081

[Alta_redneck]

Jones: Brad Gushue relishes shot at world men's curling title on home soil

EDMONTON - The Bally Haly is Newfoundland’s oldest golf and curling club located on the edge of downtown St. John’s with a view of the Cabot Tower and the Atlantic Ocean.

The curling rink is a modest four-sheet structure and, as of last week, each sheet was given a name.

Walker. Galant. Nichols. Gushue.

So, yes, they found something else to name after the team when Brad Gushue, in his 14th Brier, and Mark Nichols, in his 13th, finally won the Tankard.

The skip already had Brad Gushue Crescent, Team Gushue Highway, Team Gushue Recreation Centre (with a hockey rink, a baseball field and three soccer fields), a Team Gushue Scholarship and a playground named after him in St. John’s after winning the Olympic gold medal at the 2006 Olympics in Torino.

There’s also a road called Gold Medal Drive connecting to streets named after Nichols, Russ Howard, Jamie Korab, alternate Mike Adam and coach Toby McDonald, in honour of the Olympic champions.

One can only imagine what’s left to name after Gushue’s gang if they complete the effect with gold at the ‘Last Hurrah’ at the Edmonton 2017 Ford World Curling Championship at the Northlands Coliseum on Wayne Gretzky Drive.

St. Brad’s, Gushueland?

No skip has ever won Olympic, world and world junior gold medals.

“It was an honour, obviously, to have the sheets named after us. I don’t know if that has ever been done before. None of us has ever heard of that before. For that to happen is unbelievable,” said lead Walker, a Beaverlodge, Alta. product.

“These last two weeks have been incredible because just about the whole city of St. John’s have been able to experience what we did in Mile One Arena,” said Charlottetown, P.E.I.-born second Brett Gallant. "They all had a piece of it. Everywhere we went they wanted to tell us how they experienced the week. They had pretty good stories to share with us,”

“From my perspective, it brought back a lot of memories of what it was like after we won the Olympics," said Mount Pearl, NL-born skip Gushue.

"Just for me going around town I had to allow a little bit more time. If I went to a restaurant, a grocery store or anywhere in public just because people recognized us and wanted to come up and congratulate us. It’s been overwhelming to see the response in the city of St. John’s and the province of Newfoundland. It’s something that makes me even more excited to go into Edmonton. I know everybody back home is going to be following us and cheering us on pretty hard and then you add in the rest of the country and the city of Edmonton and it’s going to be a fun week for us.”

The last time Newfoundland won a Brier — check that, the ONLY time Newfoundland had won a Brier — was in Regina in 1976 when the legendary Sam Richardson ended up as the driver of Jack McDuff’s team of Toby McDonald, Doug Hudson and Ken Templeton.

Now they’re in the City of Champions, the acknowledged Curling Capital of the World, for their first Ford World Curling Championships starting Saturday.

“Personally, where I’m at in my career, I think winning a world championship would mean a whole lot to me with everything that’s happened over the last 11 years and particularly over the last year and a half,” said Gushue.

“It’s hard to put the world championships against the Olympics and compare them, but it would definitely mean a lot. We’re pretty happy about the idea of winning the Brier in our hometown and having the chance to win the worlds in our home country.”

History suggests that first-time Brier winners don’t fare well at worlds, but there’s never been a first-time Brier-winner like Gushue.

“I think our experience we’ve had throughout our career will really help,” said Gushue. “Brett and Geoff have both been to world juniors and Mark and I have won one and obviously had the gold-medal experience from winning the 2006 Olympics. Even just playing on the tour and playing the Grand Slams and in all those Briers, we’ve played enough that nothing is going to shock us. Even though it’s our first world championship, we’ve played all the teams in the field. It’s set up very much like a Brier. The only difference is we have ‘Canada’ on our back instead of ‘Newfoundland.’ Having played all the teams before is a benefit. There’s going to be no surprises. We’re not going to be shocked by anybody. We’re not going to be surprised how their rocks react or how they play the game because we’ve seen it all before.”

That wasn’t true at the Olympics in Torino in 2006.

Somebody by the name of Joel Retornaz of Italy beat Gushue. That’s the same Joel Retornaz who has returned as Italy skip, finally qualifying for worlds again after all these years.

So, did Gushue circle that date on the schedule for next week?

“Uh ... no. Well, yes. I got 'em all circled.”

Even Jaap Van Dorp of the Netherlands?

“We played them in a final in Switzerland last year. They gave us a good battle. It’s a deep field.”

“We’re going to treat the worlds just like the Brier and just don’t take anyone for granted, play our game and let everyone else come after us,” said Labrador City-born third Mark Nichols.

“Heading into our first worlds we have a lot of confidence in that we played in a number of finals in the last two or three seasons and done well in a bunch of major events. I don’t think there will be any letdown with us when we get to the worlds,” said Gallant.

“There’s obviously going to be a lot of pressure on us, but we handled that in St. John’s,” said Walker. “We feel that Edmonton is going to be the same way. We’re really looking forward to it and feel we’re as prepared as ever.”

Bring on the world

They avoided being a Newfoundland shipwreck in winning the Tim Hortons Brier in St. John’s and they’re here at the Ford World Curling Championship healthy — but they brought along a physiotherapist-massage team and added an alternate, just in case.

For half the season, skip Brad Gushue was out with a hip and back injury, but the team kept winning with Mark Nichols moved up from third and subs like Calgary’s Charley Thomas filling in. Then, heading into the final weekend of the Brier, lead Geoff Walker pulled a muscle in his shoulder.

In the 10th end of the final it came down to one shot, a last-rock draw to the eight-foot on dramatically changing ice, for Gushue to win it. Second Brett Gallant ended up the unsung hero of the Brier with the sweeping job he did to get Gushue’s stone to the eight-foot for the win. Third Mark Nichols needed to come up to help sweep as Walker had to step out with the shoulder injury.

Walker didn’t play the Pinty’s Grand Slam Elite 10 event in Port Hawkesbury, N.S. earlier this month, but he’s been back practising.

“My shoulder feels really good. I was able to sweep the last few practices at 100 per cent without pain, so I’m really happy with that and really looking forward to playing healthy again in Edmonton,” he said.

As for Gushue’s back, he thinks he’s back.

“At the Brier it actually started off pretty rough for me. Fortunately, being in St. John’s we had our physiotherapy-massage team that gave me a lot of attention throughout the week. It actually improved as the Brier went on and it feels better now than it did at the end of the Brier," he said. “I’m very confident going into worlds that it will be a non-issue. Fortunately for us, we were able to convince our physiotherapy-massage team to come to Edmonton with us for my sake and Geoff’s sake. We’re going to be well taken care of and I don’t think injuries should be a factor for us.”

Forced to go without an alternate at the Brier due to residency rules, Gushue has added Tom Sallows of Grand Prairie, who held the same role with Team Canada's Pat Simmons-John Morris two years ago at the Ford Worlds in Halifax.

There’s no lack of Alberta content on the team with Jules Owchar, career-long coach of Kevin Martin, talking over the role for Gushue following Martin’s retirement last year.

[Alta_redneck]

Gushue tops Switzerland in world men's curling

EDMONTON — Sharp rocks, challenging ice, and the steady buildup of frost made for a guessing game in Canada's opener at the Ford world men's curling championship on Saturday.

Fortunately for Brad Gushue, his St. John's-based team made fewer mistakes in a 7-5 win over Switzerland's Peter de Cruz at the Northlands Coliseum.

Swiss fourth Benoit Schwarz made several mistakes in the afternoon matchup and it proved costly. He blew a chance to take a big lead in the first end and missed a throw in the seventh to set Canada up to score three and take control.

"I don't care if we get 12 sloppy wins, I'll take them all," Gushue said. "But I'd certainly like to see the ice conditions be a little bit more consistent because I think that's where our team is going to excel."

The game was in stark contrast to the consistent sharpshooting on display in Gushue's win over Kevin Koe in the Tim Hortons Brier final last month.

Schwarz threw at a clip of 74 per cent while Gushue was at 82 per cent.

"I think I had three flashes which is obviously a killer against this kind of team," Schwarz said.

There were positives for the Canadian team of Gushue, vice-skip Mark Nichols, second Brett Gallant and lead Geoff Walker.

They were steady when they needed to be and didn't show any jitters in their debut performance at this event. In addition, Walker did not appear bothered by the shoulder woes that plagued him at the Brier and Gushue's lingering hip/groin injury was not a factor.

"I don't think we necessarily outplayed them," Gushue said. "It's just those misses cost them a few points and that was the difference in the game."

The Swiss team was aggressive at the start and it nearly paid off. Schwarz had an opportunity to score three — with an outside chance at five points — but he rubbed a guard and settled for a deuce.

Schwarz was thin on a takeout attempt in the second end and left a Canada stone on the 12-foot ring. A Gushue draw gave Canada a pair to pull even.

After a blank, Gushue buried two stones and forced Schwarz to draw the four-foot for a single. With a load of rocks in play in the fifth, a Gushue in-off gave him one point to tie the game at three.

Switzerland moved ahead in the sixth end with a single before the Canada three-spot in the seventh. Schwarz had a chance to pull even in the ninth but he jammed and settled for a single.

"We had some opportunities and obviously we had a couple of big misses," Schwarz said.

Canada shot 86 per cent overall to 79 per cent for the Swiss. De Cruz, who throws second stones, shot a game-low 71 per cent.

"If you played down a spot where there were no rocks, it was literally a guess," Gushue said. "That's why you'd see some open misses. It was a really, really challenging sheet of ice."

http://www.tsn.ca/gushue-tops-switzerla ... g-1.712640

[Mowich]

I don't think the guys want to be outdone by our Canadian Women as they are doing their very best to win every game they play at the Worlds. The entire team is curling well and their numbers back that up with Brad Gushue the #1 skip in the championship so far and Mark Nicols the top second.

After winning 3 in a row they are currently playing Scotland who just came off a tough loss to China in spite of out-curling the Chinese throughout the entire draw. In the 5th end, Canada leads 6 - 1 after scoring their deuce in the first then holding Scotland to a single in the 2nd, they stole the 3 and 4th ends. They are sitting 3 and that is what is facing Davie Murdoch on his last shot. Davie couldn't pull the string and Canada steals another. I think Canada has this one well in hand looking to go 4 and zip and all alone at the top of the scoreboard.

GO CANADA - GO!

[Mowich]

Canada got off the ice early again when they scored a deuce in the 8th to go up 9 - 4 on China today and it was handshakes all around. Make it 6 straight wins for our guys and now they can look forward to teams that are currently struggling and much further down in the standings. Good solid win for Team Canada. Keep it up guys. GO CANADA GO!

[Mowich]

Looks like another short draw coming up for the lads clad in the Maple Leaf. After the 4th end playing against Germany, they lead 7 - 1. They haven't so much as missed a single shot.

[Mowich]

Make the final 8 - 2 and handshakes after only 6 ends......easy win for Team Canada. Well done lads.

[Mowich]

EDMONTON — The numbers are in Brad Gushue's favour at the Ford World Men's Curling Championship.

He beat Jaap Van Dorp of the Netherlands 8-3 on Wednesday for his eighth straight win. Gushue has outscored his opponents 67-27 overall and games have been called early on six occasions.

Each early finish will help Gushue and his team stay fresh for the playoffs. The St. John's skip is still bothered by a hip/groin injury so any saved throws are welcomed.

"It's a huge positive," Gushue said. "The less I can be on it the better, to be honest. At this point I don't need more reps or more volume. I feel comfortable with the ice and I feel comfortable with how I'm throwing it.

"So if I can keep the fatigue down and be ready come the weekend, I think that's a positive."
Gushue can secure a spot in Friday's Page playoff 1-2 game with a victory over Japan's Yusuke Morozumi on Wednesday afternoon at the Northlands Coliseum.

Sweden's Niklas Edin improved to 7-1 with a 6-4 victory over Scotland's David Murdoch. Switzerland's Peter de Cruz, who did not play the morning draw, was in third place at 6-1.

Morozumi moved to 5-3 with a 12-4 rout of Russia's Alexey Stukalskiy. Italy's Joel Retornaz and John Shuster of the United States, both idle in the morning, were tied in fifth place at 4-3.

China's Rui Liu (4-4) kept his slim playoff hopes alive by edging Norway's Steffen Walstad 7-6 in an extra end.

The top four teams will make the playoffs. Two more draws were scheduled for later Wednesday.
Norway and Scotland fell to 3-5. Germany's Alexander Baumann was 2-5 while Russia and the Netherlands remained winless at 0-8.

Gushue opened with a three-point first end and added a steal of one in the third. Van Dorp was held to a single in the fourth and Gushue tacked on a deuce in the fifth end.

The Dutch side scored two points in the seventh but Gushue replied with a pair to wrap things up in eight ends.

At least six ends must be played per game at this competition. Teams can decide to shake hands early if the game has turned into a rout.

Gushue has posted two six-end wins and a pair of seven-end victories so far.

By only going the regular 10-end length on two occasions in round-robin play, he has saved 18 ends overall — essentially the equivalent of two games.

That's important for a team still feeling the effects of a long, tough grind at the Tim Hortons Brier.

"When we came in we weren't fully recovered," Gushue said. "So to have a few lighter games, it has certainly been a benefit."
The 1-2 game between the first two seeds is set for Friday night. The winner will advance to Sunday's gold-medal game.

The Page 3-4 game between the third and fourth seeds will be played Saturday afternoon. The winner advances to the evening semifinal and the loser will play for bronze Sunday against the semifinal loser.

Kevin Koe skipped Canada to a gold medal at last year's world championship in Basel, Switzerland. Gushue beat Koe in the Brier final last month in St. John's.

[Mowich]

It's looking like Team Canada will secure their berth in the 1 - 2 Page Play-off today as they were able to score 5 in the 4th end against Japan and now lead 7 - 1 in the 5th.

Brad remains the #1 skip, Mark the #1 lead and Jeff Gallant has joined the club as the #1 second.

[Mowich]

Brad and the boys put a lock on first seed in the Men's Worlds today as they put away Italy 9 - 2. Brad got himself another 5 point end, his second of the championship. Team Average was 93% overall with Brad 100% on his draws and Mark Nicols 98% on his. Team Canada has outscored their opponents 53 - 15 so far and haven't played a full 10 ends in the last five draws. Great curling by our guys.