News National

OSHAWA, Ont. — Brad Gushue believes his head feels alright but his legs still need a bit of work during his comeback to the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling series at the National.

Gushue, from St. John’s, N.L., played in his first game since his frightening fall face-first onto the ice a week-and-a-half ago during the Masters quarterfinals in Truro, N.S., against Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock. While Laycock won the Masters quarterfinal match despite Gushue’s unbelievable return during the seventh end, the script was flipped this time around. Gushue scored four in the seventh to lift his team to an 8-4 victory Wednesday in Draw 4 at the General Motors Centre.

The three-time Grand Slam winner said the coincidence wasn’t lost on him as his return game just happened to be against Laycock. 

“Walking out there and playing the first end, the thoughts of the last game I played definitely popped into my mind,” Gushue said. “The biggest struggle for me now going forward in the short-term for sure is going to be the mental side of it and trying to forget about it and move on and I think it’s just going to take a little bit of time and a few games, a few rocks, and I’m sure I’ll get over it. At least that’s what everybody tells me.” 

Gushue only started practising for the National this past Saturday after resting for most of the week and admitted he didn’t feel totally comfortable on the ice.

“I was pretty nervous as I stated before the game in a couple interviews but it didn’t seem to go away as easy as I’d hope,” Gushue said. “Obviously it’s going to take more rocks, more games for that to go away but we played good.”

Gushue opened with the hammer and converted for a deuce in the first. The teams alternated singles in two and three and again in four and five. After Laycock scored an equalizing deuce in six to tie it 4-4, Gushue responded with a game-breaking four count in seven. Laycock was limited to just a single with the hammer coming home and dropped to a 0-2 record.

“We were fortunate to win,” Gushue said. “Steve missed a couple shots that normally Steve makes but we also made some good shots even though they didn’t feel good we still made a lot of rocks, that’s a good thing. Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to try and practice later tonight and see if I can get the legs underneath me a little bit better. But head-wise, feel good. I felt as comfortable as I could, I think, it was I just have to find my legs. Little sea legs out there.”

Elsewhere, defending champion Mike McEwen of Winnipeg picked up a win in his first game of the National with an 8-2 victory in just four ends over American John Shuster. McEwen took two in the first and stole a pair in the second for an early 4-0 lead. Shuster (0-2) earned a deuce in the third but shook hands after McEwen’s score of four in the fourth end.

Sven Michel of Switzerland also grabbed an 8-2 win defeating Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher to improve to a 1-1 record. Michel broke a 1-1 tie with a deuce in the third and added a steal of two in the fourth. Bottcher (0-1) was held to a single in five and Michel got a three count in six to bring out handshakes.

In the women’s division, Ottawa’s Rachel Homan made an open hit to count two in the extra end to edge Calgary’s Chelsea Carey 7-5. Homan (2-0) led by two without the hammer coming home and had a chance to run Carey out of rocks but her final shot wrecked on a guard. Carey (0-2) capitalized with an open draw that just held on to score the deuce to force the extra frame.

Edmonton’s Val Sweeting picked up an 8-3 victory over American Jamie Sinclair. Sweeting (2-0) scored deuces in two and four, stole a point in five and earned a three-ender in seven. Sinclair (0-1) opened with the hammer but was held to singles in the first, third and sixth ends.

The National is the third tournament — and second major — of the 2015-16 Pinty’s GSOC season and runs through to Sunday at the General Motors Centre. Previously a men’s invitational, the National has expanded this year to include a women’s division for the first time in the event’s history. TV coverage begins Thursday at noon ET / 9 a.m. PT on Sportsnet East, Ontario, West and Pacific.