Gushue, Koe cruise to second wins in Humpty’s Champions Cup
The Battle of the Brads is now also the Battle of Mark and Marc.
Mark Nichols, third for Team Brad Gushue, and Marc Kennedy, third for Team Brad Jacobs, faced off in the all-important draw to the button for the hammer to begin their round-robin match Friday in the Humpty’s Champions Cup at Calgary’s WinSport Arena.
They say curling is a game of inches, well, this one was even tighter as Kennedy was only 1.4 cm away from the pin, however, Nichols covered the hole completely. That allowed Gushue to begin with last-rock advantage and control the game right from the start, converting with a three-ender in the second en route to a commanding 8-1 victory in only six ends.
Gushue, of St. John’s, N.L., climbed to a 2-0 record while Jacobs, from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., is now even at 1-1 with two more group games to go for each.
“That’s such a big shot, especially in the Slams when we’re only playing eight ends and against a team like Jacobs that is such a good front-running team,” Gushue said. “If you can win that draw to the button and score early at least you get ahead on them and then force them to play a few extra rocks. That’s kind of where we’ve found success against those guys in the past.
“Mark struggled with the draw to the button a little bit during the Brier, so to see him put it on the button and give himself that confidence boost and give the team a boost, it was a really great start. A great start before the game even started.”
The 11-time Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling men’s champion Gushue channelled mixed doubles teammate Kerri Einarson by connecting with a double takeout to score his three and then pulled off a raise double in the third that set the table for a steal of two when Jacobs came up light on his last.
“We were kind of forced to play those,” said Gushue, who won the Canadian mixed doubles title last month with Einarson. “I woke up this morning and I wasn’t feeling quite as good as I had been. A little bit of tightness and I said to the guys, ‘Hopefully, I don’t have to play many peels this game.’ Geez, it felt like every shot I threw was a peel but fortunately we made all of them.
“We made that nice double in the second end for three and then followed up with a nice angle raise double in three. Really, once Brad’s draw came up light in the third end then it was just a matter of time. Just don’t make any big mistakes at that point once you’re up 5-0.”
It went to plan for Team Gushue as they shot 92 as a unit with Nichols leading the way practically perfect at 99 per cent. Jacobs was forced to a single in four, Gushue took two more points in five and stole another one in six to end the night early.
“We certainly didn’t feel like the game was over up 5-0 but we knew if we executed well and didn’t make any big mistakes, worst we’d be in control coming home in the last end and that was kind of the feeling we had,” Gushue said. “We made a lot of good shots, we got couple misses that made it a little bit more open than we anticipated, but you can easily come back with the five-rock rule if you execute well and even more so this week with the no tick rule. If they had come back and got three, they’re going to be able to get two centre guards up and we can’t touch them. It is a little scary playing with the lead but we did a good job tonight of executing.”
Gushue also got out to a quick start in his 5-2 win Thursday over Team Matt Dunstone of Wadena, Sask., and his schedule doesn’t get any easier. After starting off by facing the only two teams that won Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling men’s titles last season, Gushue has world bronze medallists Team Peter de Cruz of Switzerland and world silver medallists Team Bruce Mouat of Scotland on tap Saturday.
Bring it on though as Gushue wouldn’t mind running through the podium and facing world gold medallists Team Niklas Edin of Sweden in the playoffs, too.
“Hopefully, we can get a win or two and maybe come across Niklas in the playoffs,” Gushue said. “That would be nice but … the field is so deep at the top level of curling. Even if you go down to the top 15 teams, they’re so good right now that you’re seeing a lot more of a 12 seed beating a one seed than you used to see and it’s just because the level has gotten so high and so deep.”
“[The rankings are] a little bit skewed but everybody’s facing it this week,” he added. “There’s going to be a lot of tough games; A lot of games you feel you can win and you don’t and the other way around that maybe you find a way to win. It’s going to be a battle and a grind and we’re ready for that.”
Humpty’s Champions Cup: Scores and standings | Draw schedule | Broadcast schedule
Meanwhile, Mouat moved up to a 3-0 record and into the playoffs with a 6-3 set against Dunstone, who fell to 0-2 and is on the brink of elimination.
Calgary’s Team Kevin Koe clobbered Edmonton’s Team Brendan Bottcher 8-2 in just five ends during a rematch of last month’s Brier final. Koe, who fell to Bottcher in the gold-medal game, scored three in the third and five in the fifth while limiting Bottcher to singles in the even ends. Both teams are at 2-1.
Winnipeg’s Team Mike McEwen (1-2) grabbed their pivotal first win doubling up 8-4 on Team de Cruz (0-2). Reid Carruthers has moved up to skip with McEwen away on paternity leave after his wife Dawn, who plays lead for Jennifer Jones, gave birth to their second child Thursday. Tyler Tardi of Langley, B.C., is subbing at third with second Derek Samagalski rounding out the lineup as just a trio as lead Colin Hodgson (personal) opted out of the bubble.
The Humpty’s Champions Cup is the first of back-to-back Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling events featuring 12 of the top men’s teams and 12 of the top women’s teams from around the world. Six teams in both divisions qualify for the playoffs with the top two receiving byes to the semifinals.
The series is testing a new rule at the Humpty’s Champions Cup called the no tick zone. A rock touching the centre line, in the free guard zone, may not be moved off the centre line by the opposing team until the sixth rock of the end.
The event is closed to the general public. Round-robin play continues Friday at 10 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. local time on Sportsnet 360 with online streaming at Sportsnet Now (Canada) and Yare (international).
Pool play runs through to Saturday with quarterfinals and semifinals on Sunday and both finals set for Monday. The Princess Auto Players’ Championship begins Tuesday.
