Players’ Championship Live: Gushue goes up against Morris
TORONTO — World champ Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., takes on John Morris and his team from Vernon, B.C., during Draw 5 action Wednesday at the WestJet Players’ Championship.
Gushue scored a 6-4 victory to move up to a 2-0 record.
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Gushue drew for three in the first end to grab an early 3-0 advantage. Team Morris fourth Jim Cotter made a gentle tap takeout to score two in the second. Gushue settled for a single in the third end with a tap while facing four and stole one in the fourth when Cotter came up just a little light on an open draw and another steal in five made it a four-point gap.
Morris settled for a single in the sixth end and Gushue made a runback double to concede one, but retain the hammer coming home.
Morris (0-2) also fell to Calgary’s Kevin Koe earlier in the day and is in a fight for an Olympic Trials spot based on points.
Elsewhere, world women’s champ Rachel Homan (2-0) counted four in the sixth and stole in seven during an 8-5 win over Allison Flaxey (1-1) in a rematch of the Master final.
Both teams holds 1-0 records. Flaxey, of Caledon, Ont., topped the Ottawa native Homan in October to capture her first career Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title.
Olympic gold medallist Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., held on for a 7-5 win over Sweden’s Niklas Edin. Jacobs moved up to a 2-0 record when Edin is at 1-1.
Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen scored four in the fifth end to close out an 8-1 victory early over Calgary’s Kevin Koe. McEwen was in control taking two in the first and stealing singles in two and three while limiting Koe to just one point in the fourth end.
Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher took down Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers 7-2. McEwen, Koe, Bottcher and Carruthers are all level at 1-1 records.
Round-robin action at the WestJet Players’ Championship continues Thursday at 8:30 a.m. ET. TV coverage begins Thursday at Noon ET on Sportsnet and online at Sportsnet NOW.
NOTES: The WestJet Players’ Championship is the fourth major and sixth event of the 2016-17 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season and runs through to Sunday at Ryerson’s Mattamy Athletic Centre. … The Rogers Grand Slam Cup will be awarded to the overall season champions following the conclusion of the WestJet Players’ Championship. … Winners of the WestJet Players’ Championship will earn berths to the Humpty’s Champions Cup running April 25-30 in Calgary.
