News Canadian Open

YORKTON, Sask. — Steve Laycock looks to win his first career Grand Slam title on home ice but it’s not going to be easy as he faces Masters champion Brad Gushue in the Canadian Open men’s final Sunday.

Watch the Canadian Open men’s final live on CBC at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT.

Each team has a legitimate chance at winning this event. Let’s take a closer look at why either one could win it all.

The case for Team Laycock

The Yorkton-born Laycock said he feels fantastic entering the final and has the crowd firmly on his side. The team of Laycock, third Kirk Muyres, second Colton Flasch and lead Dallan Muyres has sustained only one loss in the tournament to National champion Mike McEwen, who has been on fire all season long.

“We ran into a really hot McEwen team in the A (event) but aside from that it’s been really great,” Laycock said. “I’ve been really happy with how we’ve played.”

The Saskatoon-based team qualified through the B bracket of the triple knockout and squeaked out a 6-5 victory in the extra end over Brier finalist Jim Cotter during the quarterfinals. Laycock then scored another 6-5 win over young phenom Brendan Bottcher in the semis.

Bottcher missed setting up the steal attempt in the eighth end and Laycock had enough of an opening to capitalize and score the winning point.

“It was a relief to get that through,” Laycock said. “We struggled a bit the last few ends there and luckily he went a bit deep and it was a bit of an open there and it went where it needed to be.”

The Yorkton crowd has packed the Gallagher Centre arena and has been roaring all week for Laycock and his team has fed off of the positive energy to propel themselves into their first career Grand Slam final.

“It’s made it a lot of fun but at the same time it’s made me really have to focus a bit more because it’s really easy to get amped up especially when you’re throwing a last shot draw like that,” Laycock said. “We just relied on going through the process and luckily we put it there.”

The case for Team Gushue

It almost feels like deja vu for Gushue as the St. John’s, N.L., skip is once again in a Grand Slam final and facing the local favourite.

That didn’t stop Gushue from defeating Winnipeg native McEwen to win the Masters in Selkirk, Man., last month and it shouldn’t prevent him from doing it again here in Yorkton.

“The people of Yorkton have been incredible with supporting the event but also for cheering for good shots,” Gushue said. “I know we’re not going to be the favourite but I also know they’re going to treat us well and they’re going to cheer for good shots. They’re going to cheer louder for Steve’s good shots I’m sure but I expect them to be completely respectful just like they’ve been all week.”

This isn’t Gushue’s first rodeo either. The 2006 Olympic gold medallist has won two Grand Slam titles and has reached the final at four of the past six major events, counting the Canadian Open. Gushue will not have any jitters but he hopes his opponent will.

“We know they’re going to come out strong and will be wanting to win, especially in their home province. They’re going to be pretty pumped up to play us and in their first Slam final,” Gushue said. “I hope there are some nerves for him but Steve is a pretty cool customer, he’s a great player and a great skip and it’s going to be another battle if we’re going to win.”

Key to the team’s success this season has been the return of third Mark Nichols, who reunited with Gushue after a stint with Jeff Stoughton’s team in Winnipeg where he won the 2013 National. Nichols has helped give Gushue a veteran presence in the back end and combined with the strong duo of Geoff Walker and Brett Gallant up front, this is one team that manages to find wins in all the unlikely places.

Take Saturday’s draws for example. Gushue took the long road through the C-side of the tournament and the semifinal match against Calgary’s Kevin Koe was his third game of the day after beating Brier-bound John Morris’ Team Canada squad to reach the playoffs and avenging a B-qualifier loss to reigning Olympic champion Brad Jacobs in the quarterfinals. To his credit, Gushue remained cool, calm and collected throughout all three back-against-the-wall games versus three of the elite teams in the world.

“All week you play one game a day and you want to get going and all of a sudden you’re thrown into three in three really tough games and it came down to the last rock on all of them,” Gushue said after the semifinal win. “Today was a grind.”

“It was a challenge and to beat the three teams that we did in Morris, Jacobs and Koe, it’s an impressive run,” Gushue added. “Not a dominant run but we made the right shots when we had to and I’m really proud of the guys today and how we hung in there. “(Friday) was a disaster for us (losing both games) and to turn it around today was really nice.”

Gushue earned two points in seven to tie it 4-4 in the semifinals but Koe held the hammer coming home and just needed shot stone to win the game — an eerily similar scenario to how Koe defeated Gushue to capture the Canadian Open last season. However, Koe’s stone rolled too heavy and passed the mark, giving Gushue a steal of one point to win the game.

“Kevin and them really controlled the game early on but to our credit and to our team’s credit we played a really good last four ends and the last end in particular we made perfect shots and forced them to draw to the button and fortunately for us he was a little bit heavy,” Gushue said. “You feel fortunate that maybe you stole one in a situation like that, which we did, but we’ve had it go against us just as much so it all evens out and it was nice to get.”