News Canadian Open

YORKTON, Sask. — Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., was almost at a loss for words when asked to describe his final shots to defeat Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock 6-5 and win the Canadian Open men’s championship Sunday.

Trailing by one with the hammer coming home, Gushue fired a double takeout to sit shot rock on the lid and nailed a clutch come-around draw to grab just enough of the button to out-count Laycock’s stone and score the decisive skip’s deuce.

Wow, indeed.

“I’ve won a couple Slams, I’ve won some World Curling Tour events and obviously the Olympics and the (Canadian Olympic) trials but the excitement after that last shot, with the exception of probably the trials, that was probably the most excited I’ve gotten after a curling shot,” Gushue said. “It just didn’t feel like we deserved a win but we had a shot to win and it was a really, really tough shot and to pull it off and for the guys to sweep it in as perfectly as they did, wow, it was pretty cool.”

It’s the third Grand Slam title for Gushue and second this season with third Mark Nichols, second Brett Gallant and lead Geoff Walker after capturing the Masters last month.

“It’s unbelievable, not in my wildest dreams would I think we would win two of the first three (Grand Slams) we’ve played together,” said Nichols, who rejoined the team this season after a stint with Winnipeg’s Jeff Stoughton. “The scary thing is we’re probably not playing as well as we can as a team, as a total four-man unit. There are lots of things we can improve upon but this feels wonderful right now.”

Gushue, who won his first at the National in 2010, came just short of winning Grand Slam titles last season finishing runner-up at the Canadian Open and National. Both times his opponent held the hammer coming home to win on buzzer beaters and this time fortune favoured Gushue.

“You have some people making great shots to beat you to win a championship and eventually you’re going to do the same thing,” Gushue said. “This makes up for one of the two we hadn’t made last year and that’s got to definitely be a little bit bitter for Steve and his team because I felt they outplayed us and they probably deserved to win but curling has that nature that one or two shots can win a game. Fortunately for us, it was those last two that we made on our last stones.”

The Yorkton-born Laycock had the crowd on his side for his first Grand Slam men’s final as a skip and never trailed until the game was over. Laycock opened with the hammer and coverted for a deuce, but Gushue matched taking two in the second. A force in three and a steal in four gave Laycock a 4-2 lead until Gushue recovered scoring another deuce in five to tie it back up. Laycock blanked six and settled for one in seven that handed Gushue the hammer for the thrilling finale.

“Just give him the chance to win you the game and that’s what we said to each other at the end of the seventh end: let’s give Brad a shot to win, no matter how hard it is, I like our chances,” Nichols said. “That’s the hardest shot I’ve ever seen this year and to draw to the side of the sheet to the side of the button that we hadn’t played on all game, I don’t want anyone other than Brad throwing that shot.”

It was a grind of a tournament as Gushue took the long road through the tournament needing three consecutive wins Saturday over Calgary’s John Morris in the C-qualifiers, Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., in the quarterfinals and Calgary’s Kevin Koe in the semifinals to reach the championship game.

“I struggled earlier this week but yesterday morning I found the feel and it never left,” Gushue said. “I felt like I could put the rock wherever I wanted to out there yesterday and today and generally I feel like that on (ice maker) Mark Shurek’s ice because it’s so good and when you have that amount of confidence it’s easy to have success. Unfortunately I don’t have that confidence everywhere I play, but I wish I did. The ice is good and if you throw the rock well, you’re going to make some shots.”

Gushue is now a Players’ Championship away from joining an exclusive group of skips who have completed a career Grand Slam. Kevin Martin, Glenn Howard, Wayne Middaugh and Jeff Stoughton are the only skips to have won all four major titles in the series.