Eight Ends: Gushue finishes script on 4th GSOC title win
OSHAWA, Ont. — It’s a chapter that could have ended in our first event of the season.
Brad Gushue was one win away from capturing his fourth career Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title, on home-ice no less, as the St. John’s skip faced Calgary’s Kevin Koe in the Tour Challenge final in Paradise, N.L. It wasn’t meant to be as Koe held the hammer in the extra end and came through in the clutch to win.
Then just two weeks ago in the quarterfinals of the Masters, Gushue lost his balance and fell face-first onto the ice during his match against Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock. Gushue’s team continued play while he was rushed to a nearby hospital for stitches. Gushue made an unbelievable return in the seventh but couldn’t complete the comeback as his team lost.
That was another chapter Gushue was looking to close as well when he stepped foot on the ice for the first time at the General Motors Centre for the National, still experiencing “sea legs” during the opening practice as he was trying to get up to speed.
The word on the sheet is that nobody is as dedicated to practice as Gushue is — his “Sanctuary” so to speak — but he mostly rested during the short break between Grand Slam events and had just resumed on-ice activity three days prior to the National. Gushue was checked out by a doctor and the 2006 Olympic gold medallist was given the okay, not feeling 100 percent but good enough to play.
Well, he was also good enough to win the National as he defeated Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers 7-2 in the final to claim that elusive fourth Pinty’s GSOC championship and turn the page on that chapter.
Let’s run through eight other takeaways from the National.
1st End: Homan wins back-to-back Grand Slams
Ottawa’s Rachel Homan ran the table again at a Pinty’s GSOC event, finishing with an overall 7-0 record to win the inaugural women’s National championship after scoring two in the last end to defeat Tracy Fleury 5-4 in the final.
The National is one of four majors in the series, held annually since the first GSOC season in 2001-02, but was always a men’s invitational until this season. An expanded event led to double the action and excitement highlighted by Team Homan extending their amazing run through the series.
Homan now holds a jaw-dropping 20-1 record through three Pinty’s GSOC events this season sustaining her lone defeat to Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland in the Tour Challenge final after giving up a steal in the last end. It seems Homan has put that loss behind her as she captured the Masters two weeks ago and now has a National trophy in her collection.
Adding their other tour victories to the mix and they’ve won five titles this year. It’s only mid-November and one has to wonder how many more they’ll claim over the course of the season as this is shaping up to be an unprecedented run for sure.
Of course, Team Homan aren’t concerned with that just now; they’re taking it one game at a time and it’s certainly working out.
3rd End: Fleury finds the right combo
This has been a breakout year already for Tracy Fleury in the Pinty’s GSOC series. Prior to the season-opening Tour Challenge, you’d have to go back to the 2012 Masters to find Fleury — then known as Tracy Horgan — skipping in a Grand Slam due to work commitments that prevented the Sudbury, Ont., team from attending additional events.
Fleury, the reigning Northern Ontario Scotties champion, added Crystal Webster to the mix and the team has rolled with the Calgary native in their five-player rotation, allowing them the flexibility to return to the series. So far it’s paid off — literally — as Fleury made it to the semifinals of the Tour Challenge, at the time a new career-best, and then went one step further at the National by finishing runner-up to Homan.
They could have dealt a serious blow to Homan’s chances of coming back to win at the end of the seventh when Joanne Courtney, believing her team had second shot and were just giving up one, kicked off a rock early that Fleury wanted to measure. Rules dictate that Fleury was allowed to count her other nearby rock for an additional point — already having one in the bank with shot stone — and taken a 5-3 lead into the final end. However, Fleury declined and opted for just the single steal.
Team Homan third Emma Miskew said following the game, “It’s tough looking back at that and we made a mistake but it was really amazing that they took the one and let the game go to the eighth.”
4th End: Rocque qualifies for the playoffs, again
Straight out of juniors this season, Kelsey Rocque did it again making the playoffs at the National after also qualifying in her Pinty’s GSOC series debut at the Tour Challenge.
Rocque and her Edmonton-based team finished 2-2 in the round robin after falling to Team Homan 7-1 in a deceiving line score as the skip made a pair of incredible shots to keep things from spiralling even further out of control.
Rocque was forced to play in a tiebreaker and defeated Winnipeg’s Kerri Einarson before having to face Homan again in the quarterfinals. While Rocque lost 5-4 to the eventual champion again, this time it was a more accurate reflection of how close the two-time world junior champion is to knocking off the top women’s team on tour right now.
They also had quite the crowd support at the General Motors Centre as third Laura Crocker is from nearby Scarborough, Ont., and had family and friends in attendance.
5th End: Carruthers breaks through quarterfinal barrier
Although Reid Carruthers has a Grand Slam title on his resume — winning the 2013 National playing for Jeff Stoughton — it was a new career best for the Winnipeg native as a skip by reaching the final.
In fact, just getting past the quarterfinals was a benchmark for his team as they had qualified in Pinty’s GSOC events five times prior to the National but had yet to win in the playoffs. Having spoken with the members of Team Carruthers several times this season, the fact that they hadn’t made it past the quarters was weighing on their minds.
It wasn’t easy either as this time around they went head-to-head against the reigning Olympic champions Team Brad Jacobs from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
Carruthers came out on top 7-5 scoring a deuce in the final end and then took down 16-time Grand Slam champion Glenn Howard of Penetanguishene, Ont., 5-2 in the semifinals.
The next threshold to cross will be winning a Grand Slam together and Carruthers came dangerously close to putting the match against Gushue away early as he had a shot to opening the scoring with a four-count but rubbed one of his guards and gave up a steal of one. Had Carruthers pulled it off, it could’ve been game over, man.
Still, now that Team Carruthers have gotten to the finals, it’s one less thing to dwell upon and they should feel more confident heading into the playoffs the next time around.
6th End: Epping bounces back
John Epping probably wishes every Pinty’s GSOC event was held in the Greater Toronto Area. Either that or be able to transport his family and friends across the country.
The Toronto native made it to the semifinals at the Players’ Championship last season, held at Ryerson’s Mattamy Athletic Centre, and after missing the playoffs twice this season, his team rebounded to reach the semis at the National.
With the Players’ Championship set to return to the old Maple Leaf Gardens, you can bet on another strong performance for Team Epping then.
In the meantime, their strong run at the National — including a round-robin win over top-ranked Team McEwen and a quarterfinal victory against two-time reigning Brier champions Team Simmons — should be huge enough boosts to carry them strong for now.
7th End: Uncharacteristic end for McEwen
Winnipeg’s Team Mike McEwen just didn’t have it this weekend as the reigning Masters champions were unable to defend their National title.
McEwen had qualified at nine consecutive Pinty’s GSOC events but missed the playoffs at the National with a 1-3 record.
The top-ranked team on the World Curling Tour’s total order of merit are set to compete this weekend in the DEKALB Superspiel — an event closer to home in Morris, Man. — and should get them back on the right track.
8th End: Team Ulsrud back in contention
Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud was back in the playoff picture for the first time since the 2013 Players’ Championship. The 2014 world champions had a rough go in their past few Pinty’s GSOC appearances but were able to punch their way through the National to qualify.
It’s an excellent time for the team to start heating up as they’re now off to Denmark for the European Curling Championships and capturing that would earn them a spot in the season-ending Pinty’s GSOC event, the Champions Cup, featuring all of the top winners on tour.
Extra End: Next up for the Pinty’s GSOC series
Our next event will be the fourth stop — and third major — of the 2015-16 season, the Meridian Canadian Open, running Dec. 8-13 in a return trip to the Gallagher Centre in Yorkton, Sask. The Meridian Canadian Open features a triple knockout rather than round-robin pools where teams must win three games before they lose three in order to qualify.
