News National

NORTH BAY, Ont. — Team Brad Gushue grabbed their second victory in as many days at the Boost National.

Gushue, from St. John’s, N.L., scored three-enders in the second and fourth ends during an 8-6 victory over Kevin Koe’s club from Calgary in Draw 5 Wednesday morning at Memorial Gardens.

Up 7-5 playing the seventh end, Gushue looked to be in a jam without the hammer, however, Koe (1-1) gave up a stolen point to fall behind by three and was only able to get a single in the eighth coming home.

Elsewhere on the draw, Canada’s Team Brendan Bottcher also improved to a 2-0 record after topping Italy’s Team Joël Retornaz 6-5. Although Retornaz (0-2) opened with the hammer, he was limited to a single in the second end and Bottcher took control taking two points in the third. That’s how the game continued to unfold as Retornaz was forced to one again in the fourth and sixth while Bottcher added additional deuces in the fifth and seventh. Retornaz held the hammer coming home but need three points to force an extra end and could only count two.

Switzerland’s Team Marco Hösli, skipped by Philipp Hösli, improved to 1-1 with a 7-6 win over Canada’s Team Glenn Howard (0-2).

It was a quick morning for Team Colton Flasch as they rolled past Team Mike McEwen 10-4 in six ends during their all-Canadian clash. Flasch, from Saskatoon, rode the steal train to work picking up two points in the first, one in the second and four in the third for an early 7-0 hold on the game. McEwen, whose team is based out of Toronto, recovered with a score of four themselves in the fifth, however, Flasch replied with a count of three in the sixth leading to a “three count” in the match.

Flasch climbed to a 2-0 record while McEwen dropped to 0-2.

UP NEXT

The Boost National action continues with Draw 6 at 12 p.m. ET.

Broadcast coverage begins Thursday at 12 p.m. ET on Sportsnet, SN NOW (Canada) and Yare (international).

Round-robin play runs through to Friday as teams play four games against teams outside of their pool. The top eight overall, regardless of pools, advance to Saturday afternoon’s quarterfinals. The semifinals are set for Saturday evening and both finals are on tap for Sunday.

NOTES

The Boost National is the first of six events on the 2022-23 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling calendar and features 16 of the top men’s teams and 16 of the top women’s teams from around the world. … A combined $300,000 purse, split equally between the men’s and women’s divisions, is on the line. The winning teams receive $35,000 and invitations to the season-ending Kioti Tractor Champions Cup. … Points are also up for grabs in the race for the Pinty’s Cup, which is awarded to the 2022-23 season champions with a $75,000 bonus for the winning teams.