Gushue in the driver’s seat at world championship
Canada’s Brad Gushue has rocketed past the field at the world men’s curling championship winning at a remarkable rate.
Gushue and his crew from St. John’s, N.L., have been simply dominant at Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton standing clear at the top of the table with an unblemished 9-0 record and just two more round-robin games to go before the playoffs.
Yup, we’re already talking about playoffs as Gushue is not only bound, he’s secured a spot in the coveted 1-2 game. A victory there Friday night would move his team straight through to Sunday’s gold-medal match.
It’s already been an unforgettable season for Gushue, both good and bad, with the low point being the three months he missed at the start of the season due to a hip/groin problem (an issue that still persists) to the high of winning his first career Brier tankard in his hometown. Only a gold medal at the world championship could possibly top that or at very least come close.
Canada made it through the marathon portion of the schedule with its perfect record intact playing four consecutive draws (afternoon-evening Tuesday and morning-afternoon Wednesday).
It helped all four games ended well before the regular 10 ends as Canada for the most part has taken control of the game early and outmatched its opponents to bring out the handshakes.
Gushue defeated China’s Rui Liu 9-4 in eight ends, Germany’s Alexander Baumann 8-2 in six, Netherland’s Jaap van Dorp 8-3 in eight and Japan’s Yusuke Morozumi 10-2 in seven. That’s 11 ends Canada has banked — essentially saving a full game plus an extra end — and that additional rest helps when you have a tight turnaround between draws, especially with Gushue still managing his hip/groin issue. It’s also an advantage when you face teams who haven’t had the same luxury and are running on fumes as the grinding week winds down.
Canada opened Wednesday morning’s match against Netherlands with a bang taking a three-spot in the first end. Gushue stole a point in the third, limited van Dorp to a single in four, and took two in the fifth for a commanding 6-1 lead at the break. Van Dorp, who entered the game with a 0-7 record, scored a deuce in seven to cut the deficit, but Gushue went for the kill shot in eight looking to score four and only getting two. That was enough for van Dorp though.
Gushue scored big during the fourth end against Morozumi in the afternoon with a narrow raise takeout for five points and a six-point lead. Morozumi, who finished fourth at the worlds a year ago, could only manage another single on the board in the fifth. Gushue matched in the following end and stole a pair in seven when Morozumi’s attempted a double takeout for two, but crashed on a counter higher up in the house.
Don’t expect Gushue to ease up either during his remaining round-robin games Thursday against Italy’s Joel Retornaz and Norway’s Steffen Walstad. Gushue will want to keep the motor running at high octane and ensure he’ll start that 1-2 game with the all-important hammer.
One has to wonder then about the possibility of Gushue winning out from here ala compatriot Rachel Homan, who pulled off an unprecedented 13-0 record en route to gold at the world women’s curling championship last month in Beijing. Gushue is certainly in good standing at the rate he’s running.
Playoffs?
Sweden (8-2) is right behind Canada in the standings followed by Switzerland (7-2) after Niklas Edin crushed Peter de Cruz 10-4 Wednesday night to take sole possession of the second spot and qualify for the playoffs.
American John Shuster, the 2016 bronze medallist, is slotted in fourth with a 6-3 record and Morozumi sits at 5-4. Liu, Retornaz, Walstad and Scotland’s David Murdoch are all at 4-5, but their chances at qualifying for the playoffs are fading and they’ll need some good vibes to get going.
Olympic qualification on the line
For those teams slipping out of contention, there’s still a lot on the line. Where they finish in the standings affects their country’s chances of qualifying for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Last year’s results plus this year’s will determine the seven teams who earn guaranteed berths to the Games. Two more teams will get in the long way through an additional qualification event taking place later this year.
It’s like an Inception-esque tournament within a tournament scenario. For teams like Murdoch, a strong finish will go a long way toward helping Scotland (really Great Britain) qualify for the Olympics.
Here are the standings based on last year’s finish. Canada’s Kevin Koe defeated Denmark’s Rasmus Stjerne in the gold-medal game although neither one is back this time around for different reasons. Gushue defeated Koe in the Brier final while Denmark isn’t represented at all as Stjerne performed poorly at the European Championship and the nation did not qualify for the worlds.
Finland and Czech Republic are also idle in the standings for the same reason (DNQ) as is South Korea, although the host nation receives an auto berth to the Winter Olympics so you might as well scratch them off the list.