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Gushue keeps GSOC winning streak intact at National

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. — The Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling winning streak continues for Brad Gushue although just barely.

Gushue has started the season victorious in 16 consecutive games in the series collecting the Tour Challenge Tier 1 and Masters titles along the way.

The St. John’s, N.L., native’s latest dub at the BOOST National was anything but sweet though as he overcame a rocky couple middle frames to upend Scotland’s Bruce Mouat 7-6 in an extra Wednesday night.

It was the second straight late night for Gushue, who also escaped with an extra-end win Tuesday over Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen and it’s been smoke and mirrors for the reigning world champion.

“The winning streak is misleading for sure,” Gushue said. “It’s not indicative of how we’re playing. As you’ve seen in that game and even in the game against Mike yesterday, we’re just kind of finding ways to win. It’s not like we’re playing like we did at the world championship where we’re shooting 90 as a team.

“Part of that is other teams missing. We got a miss there from Bruce on his first one in eight. If he makes that then he’s going to have a shot to win. It may be difficult but he’d have a shot. Sometimes you need those breaks and we’re getting a few of those but the exciting part for us is we know we can get better and get a little bit more consistent.”

Team Gushue (2-0 through round-robin play) was running like clockwork to start opening with hammer and an ideal deuce-force-deuce scenario to lead 4-1 after three ends.

Mouat took two in the fourth to cut the deficit and that’s when things unravelled for Gushue as the 2016 world junior champion managed to pull ahead 5-4 with back-to-back steals in five and six. Gushue’s last in the fifth sailed through the house untouched and an in-turn tap around a guard in six didn’t go as planned either.

The nine-time Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title winner Gushue righted the ship in seven jumping back into the lead with a deuce.

Mouat (1-1) missed with his first skip stone in eight and was held to a single and Gushue closed the case in overtime with a wide-open draw.

“It’s kind of the second game in a row where the middle couple ends we just got a little sloppy,” Gushue said. “A couple misses, a couple bad breaks and all of a sudden they’re back in the game. We made some good shots in the eighth and the extra end to pull it out but we’ve got to work on our fifth and sixth ends. We haven’t played those too well in the last couple games. Still getting a feel for the ice but it’s certainly good. I just don’t think we have a good grasp of it yet.”

Gushue hadn’t had practice ice back home until recently, which has helped a lot as they’ve still got some issues to iron out before returning to top form.

“We are throwing it a whole lot better than what we did all year and that’s because we have practice ice,” Gushue said. “It still feels a little bit off and more of it is I just don’t think I’m doing a great job of getting the broom in the right spot. We’re throwing a lot of good rocks we’re just not getting good results. Hopefully another game out on the ice we’ll get a little bit better read on it. It’s not that the ice is bad, the ice is great, we’re putting the broom a couple inches too far or not far enough. Hopefully, we’ll get that figured out.”

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Elsewhere in Draw 6 action, Calgary’s Kevin Koe also climbed to a 2-0 record with a 6-4 win over Winnipeg’s William Lyburn (0-2).

Koe counted three in the second, but Lyburn replied with a single in three and a steal of one in four to keep it tight. Koe responded with a deuce in five followed by a steal in six to stretch his lead to four points. Lyburn got a deuce back in seven but couldn’t complete the comeback without the hammer in eight.

Hometown hero Brad Jacobs (1-1) bounced back big time thumping Scotland’s Greg Drummond 9-2 in just five ends. Jacobs, the reigning BOOST National men’s champion, hit nothing but threes like Steph Curry stealing a trio in the first with additional treys in the third and fifth. Drummond (0-2) was limited to singles in the two even ends.

Jacobs dropped his opening match to Winnipeg’s Jason Gunnlaugson, the Tour Challenge Tier 2 winner, Tuesday night.

Greg Balsdon (1-1) of Kingston, Ont., improved his record as well scoring two in the eighth to defeat John Morris of Vernon, B.C., 6-4. Morris, who just qualified for the Canadian Olympic curling trials Sunday, dropped to a 0-2 record and has yet to win a game so far this season in the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling.

In the lone women’s division match, Michelle Englot (1-1) topped Kerri Einarson 8-6 in a battle of Winnipeg-based teams. Einarson, the defending BOOST National women’s champion, fell to a 0-2 record.

The BOOST National is the third event and second major of the 2017-18 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season and features 15 of the best men’s teams and 15 of the best women’s teams from around the globe.

Round-robin play runs through to Friday with the top eight on each side qualifying for the weekend playoffs.

TV coverage begins Thursday at Noon ET on Sportsnet and online at Sportsnet NOW (Canada) and gsoc.yaretv.com (international).

Nov. 26 - Dec. 1, 2024 Mary Brown's Centre St. John's, NL