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FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. — Glenn Howard held the hammer coming home in the Syncrude National final and just needed his last shot to settle in the four-foot circle to win the title.

Easier said than done, of course, but Howard made no mistake drawing right on top of the button for a 7-6 victory over Brad Gushue to claim his 14th Grand Slam of Curling championship as a skip.

“I liked my weight but it was hanging on that corner guard for the longest way down and I was thinking, ‘I didn’t overthrow it, it should be curling any time,'” Howard told Sportsnet’s Joan McCusker after the game. “All-in-all it came up nice on the button and we won.”

Howard, third Wayne Middaugh, second Brent Laing and lead Craig Savill collected $24,000 as the Penetanguishene, Ont., team have won three of the past four Grand Slam of Curling events. The foursome finished last season running the table at the Players’ Championship in April and picked up where they left off posting another undefeated run through the season-opening Masters in early November. Howard lost in the semifinals of the Canadian Open two weeks later to eventual champion Kevin Koe of Calgary to end the possibility of sweeping the four-event series.

Gushue, who fell to Koe in the Canadian Open final, battled hard with Howard through the match as both skips curled an outstanding 95 percent.

“Any time you play Glenn’s team you know you can’t let shots slip because they’ll take advantage, so every shot we were focused as we could be and it was a great game by both teams,” Gushue told Sportsnet. “He had one more hammer than we did and that’s all it came down to.” 

Both Howard and Gushue posted 4-1 in round-robin pool play. Howard beat Edmonton’s Kevin Martin 7-3 in the quarterfinals and Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock 10-6 in the semifinals while Gushue got past Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson 7-5 in the quarters and Switzerland’s Sven Michel 7-6 during the semis to set up the epic showdown. 

“Just winning any one of these Grand Slam events is unbelievable,” Howard said. “You’re playing the best teams in the world all the time and to win one is unbelievable, to win a few is pretty special and I love doing it with my buddies.”

Gushue couldn’t get shot stone with his final rock in the opening end as it curled a little too hard and Howard jumped on the opportunity to score two. Gushue replied with a deuce of his own in the third and the two rinks exchanged pairs of points in the fourth and fifth and again in the sixth and seventh ends.

The Fort McMurray crowd was vocal in their support for Gushue’s team from St. John’s, N.L., and roared after every shot he fired. Several Newfoundland and Labrador flags were flying in the crowd as well.

“They cheered us on all week and it meant a lot to us,” said Gushue, who collected $14,000 for his runner-up finish. “It was fun to go to the rink and we were kind of concerned after the Brier about a bit of a letdown but with the support that they gave us, there was no chance that that was going to happen.”

The fourth and final leg of the Grand Slam of Curling is the Players’ Championship, running April 15-20, at Credit Union Place in Summerside, P.E.I. The past three Slam events have been held out west and Gushue is looking forward to playing one closer to home, especially since teammates Adam Casey and Brett Gallant are originally from P.E.I.

“Any time you’re down east it’s pretty much that the Atlantic Canadian provinces support each other,” Gushue said. “I will imagine we’ll be the fan favourite out there as well so I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be nice to have a couple weeks off after this but we’re going to be ready and hopefully sharp in Summerside.”