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Brad Gushue. (Anil Mungal)

Consistency, confidence key for Team Gushue

TORONTO — The one common theme running through the early stages of the 2015-16 curling season has been that if there’s a championship on the line, Team Brad Gushue is one of the rinks on the ice.

Gushue, third Mark Nichols, second Brett Gallant, and lead Geoff Walker have reached the final in all five tournaments they’ve competed in so far, resulting in three trophies for the St. John’s team including back-to-back titles heading into this weekend’s StuSells Toronto Tankard.

While consistency has been a key factor for their success, Gushue believes it’s also been the result of things just going their way.

“We’ve been playing well but I think we’re getting some breaks,” Gushue said Friday at the High Park Club. “Some guys are missing some shots that it seems like last year they were making against us. We’ve had some luck on our side but we’ve also made some breaks and made some big shots.

“We’re playing pretty consistent. I think that’s the nicest part about what we’re doing this year is game in and game out we’re giving a pretty consistent effort and we haven’t had any games where we’ve come out and played just really bad.”

Team Gushue made an equipment change prior to this season switching to Hardline brooms. While in basketball the saying goes “is it the shoes?”, one has to ask in the case of Gushue’s strong start to the year, “is it the brooms?”

“They’ve given us some confidence for sure,” Gushue said with a smile. “The biggest thing is just we believe we can make shots. Whether it’s the brooms that are doing it or the confidence or whatever, it’s working for us right now.”

The StuSells Toronto Tankard features a stacked lineup with all five of the top-ranked teams on the World Curling Tour’s total order of merit competing, plus 10 other teams ranked within the top 30, making it feel more like a Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling tournament rather than a regular tour event.

Gushue, currently ranked No. 2 in the world, knows it’s going to be a challenge to make it through on top in order to maintain his team’s hot streak.

“With the exception of (Kevin) Koe and probably (Steve) Laycock, I think just about everybody is here from the top seven or eight teams, so it’s going to be tough to win this one,” Gushue said. “Even once you go beyond those six, seven, eight teams, there are a lot of really great teams. It’s a pretty deep field so game in and game out you’re going to have a battle.

“Really, just getting to the playoffs in this event is going to be a challenge for every team here. Once you get to the playoffs then it’s just a matter of who gets hot, who gets the breaks and hopefully we continue to get a few of them.”

Team Gushue edged Team Jake Walker 6-5 in their opening game to reach the A-side semifinals of the triple knockout tournament.

Blue Jays fever sweeps over curling

With Game 2 of the American League Division Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers also taking place Friday afternoon, a number of curlers were quite distracted on the ice during their draws.

Several players made their shots and then quickly glanced through the glass into the lounge to check on the score of the game. Suffice to say many of them were disappointed when the Blue Jays lost 6-4 in 14 innings to fall 0-2 with elimination now on the line in the best-of-five series.

A few curlers were even able to catch Game 1 live at the Rogers Centre prior to the start of the Stu Sells Toronto Tankard.

StuSells Toronto Tankard Friday recap

Gushue will face Toronto’s own John Epping in the A-side semifinals Saturday morning. Epping won both of his matches Friday, beating Riu Lui 5-3 and thumping Greg Balsdon 7-1.

Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers cruised through his pair of games scoring an 8-1 victory over Denis Cordick and earning an 8-2 win against Craig Brown. Carruthers faces Mark Kean of Stoney Creek, Ont., in the A-side semifinals. Kean took down Simon Biedermann 8-2 in the opening draw and stunned reigning world champion Niklas Edin 6-3.

Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen, ranked No. 1 in the world, beat Jia Liang Zang 9-5 to also reach the A-side semis. McEwen meets Glenn Howard, of Penetanguishene, Ont., who picked up a 6-3 victory against Tanner Horgan and slipped past Scott Bailey 4-3.

The fourth A-side semifinal match sees Olympic gold medallist Brad Jacobs, from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., take on John Shuster, of Duluth, Minn. Jacobs held off Shawn Adams 7-6 while Shuster scored wins over Rob Retchless (7-1) and Robert Desjardins (8-5).