News Champions Cup

CALGARY — When you’re up by two points and have the hammer in the eighth end, it’s usually smooth sailing from there.

That wasn’t the case for Brad Gushue though Thursday night at the Humpty’s Champions Cup. The reigning world champion from St. John’s, N.L., faced a whopping five counters courtesy of Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen.

Gushue opted to draw and concede a point to secure the 5-4 victory climbing to a 3-0 record and qualifying for the playoffs at the season-ending Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling tournament.

“Really we were trying so hard to keep the front open and to be honest at the end we didn’t do a good job at that,” Gushue said with a laugh. “It was a safer shot just to give them the one and get the win as opposed to try and score there. I haven’t been in a situation like that too much. Usually, when you’re up two it’s pretty stress-free, but there was a little bit of stress on that one for sure.”

It was bagels on the board to start as Gushue and McEwen kept pace through the opening three ends waiting for the first mistake. That came in the fourth end when McEwen rolled deep to the back of the 12-foot circle and Gushue finally found his opening to capitalize with an in-turn tap to count three and crack open the scoring.

“It was really just both teams executing so well,” said Gushue, a winner of seven Pinty’s GSOC titles. “There was always a double peel or triple or something made to open things up in the first couple ends. Neither team had a setup that they really loved so there was a lot of bailing out and both teams did a good job of that. We got a good three in the fourth end that really put the game on our side and just kind of held on for dear life in the end.”

McEwen took two in the fifth to close the gap, but Gushue matched in six to restore the three-point advantage. The six-time Pinty’s GSOC titlist McEwen drew for just a single in seven. That handed the hammer back to Gushue, but with second Brett Gallant and third Mark Nichols not getting the results they wanted, it still came down to the wire.

“We played a good sixth end, seventh was pretty good. Eighth end was just sloppy, it really was,” Gushue said. “We had a chance on Brett’s to really put the game away and we jammed it and actually rolled behind the guard. We didn’t get much on either one of Mark’s shots. Good throws but the results weren’t good. Feather ticked the guard on his second one and didn’t get rid of anything and that kind of left us in a situation where we were facing five.

“Mike made a heck of a shot on his last to make us shoot against five but it was a relatively easy shot we had. I didn’t make it look that easy, but it was easy. It’s one you’re going to make 90 percent of the time.”

Gushue has one more round-robin game to go against Tom Brewster of Scotland (watch Friday at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sportsnet). While Gushue admitted his team is fighting fatigue, they’re not the only ones. He believes they’re still playing well and they’re enjoying the ice conditions.

“It’s probably the best Slam ice we’ve played on all year. You know what the rock is going to do when it’s coming down, which is fun,” Gushue said. “I don’t think we’re as sharp as I’d like us to be, but we’re playing pretty good. At this time of the year, there’s fatigue on everybody’s part and not just our team, but every team. You’re probably going to get a few more mistakes than you would a month or two ago.”

Meanwhile, Val Sweeting drew for two and the win in the eighth end to lift her Edmonton-based team past Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge 6-5 in a Battle of Alberta.

Sweeting sat shot stone prior to her last coming home, ensuring there would be at least an extra end, but rather than settle for OT the reigning Rogers Grand Slam Cup champ went for it drawing to the button and landing on the lid.

“With the way that end was going I was happy to have a shot for one,” Sweeting said with a smile. “We were lucky that we were sitting shot on mine or I would have had a really tricky shot just to score. The girls swept it good. It was a bit of a guess on what that side would do, we had to go a little wider than what we had been, but the girls managed it great and it worked out.”

Sweeting brushed aside an opening-draw, extra-end loss to Kerri Einarson and has now won three in a row heading into the playoffs.

“We just had a bad start to that game. We were just not throwing them well and not getting results,” Sweeting said. “We felt a lot better in the last half of that game and we just tried to carry that forward. I felt that we did a really good job of that in the next two games. We went out there today, had some really good shots — it wasn’t our strongest game end to end — but overall I think it was good. We did the best we could out there and luckily it was enough today.”

It was a see-saw right from the start. Facing two in the first, Sweeting hit and rolled in for a single. Scheidegger clipped a top rock with her last in the second, but her shooter rolled into the four-foot circle to get away with a point to tie it and avoid giving up a steal.

Sweeting over-curled in three to concede the lead but grabbed it right back at 3-2 with a tap for two in the fourth.

Scheidegger made a highlight-reel shot in five making it through the port for a double tap to push aside Sweeting’s counter and score a deuce to jump back ahead 4-3.

Sweeting just got by the guard in six and hit and stuck around for a single to make it all square at 4-4. Scheidegger settled for a single in seven to regain the lead once more but gave up the hammer coming home.

“I think there were a couple errors on either side and it was just a matter of who would capitalize,” Sweeting said. “They made that pistol through the hole for two and it was really back and forth. We put ourselves into a position to win and that’s really all you could ask for. Those games are going to be tight. They’re a really good team and we’re going to see them a lot in the future. I think I’m just overall happy to come out on top of that one.”

Meanwhile, Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni (3-0) has earned her playoff spot following an 8-1 rout over Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg (2-1). Cathy Overton-Clapham is playing at third again on Team Tirinzoni with Manuela Siegrist recovering from a knee injury.

Peter de Cruz of Switzerland scored two in the eighth to rally past Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., 6-5. Both teams are at 2-1 records.

Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock (2-1) scored five in the seventh during an 8-6 victory over Japan’s Yusuke Morozumi (0-4).

Round-robin action wraps up Friday at WinSport Arena with the top eight men’s and women’s teams qualifying for the weekend playoffs.