Gushue plans to continue curling but future of team looks 'doubtful'

The reports of Brad Gushue’s retirement were greatly exaggerated. 

While the end of the Olympic cycle normally sees a number of players announce they’re stepping back from competitive curling, Gushue isn’t one of them this time. 

Gushue, who captured Olympic bronze for Canada last month at the Beijing Winter Games, spoke with Kevin Martin and Warren Hansen on the latest Inside Curling podcast, released Tuesday, and shot down any retirement rumours when asked about his future. 

“I’ve heard some things that (third) Mark (Nichols) and I are retiring. That’s not true,” Gushue said. “We are getting old, so I don’t blame people for throwing that out there. It is somewhat believable but in this situation, it isn’t true. We are going to continue curling.” 

The question now becomes whether or not the 41-year-old Gushue will remain playing with Nichols, second Brett Gallant and lead Geoff Walker.

The St. John's, N.L., crew has been one of the top teams on tour since 2014, when Nichols reunited with Gushue after a stint in Manitoba with skip Jeff Stoughton. On top of their bronze medal in Beijing, together they've won gold and silver at the world championships, three Brier titles and 11 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling championships. 

Curling Canada’s residency rules restrict teams to one out-of-province import player. In Team Gushue's case, that has allowed Walker to live in his home province of Alberta while continuing to play with the club. Team Gushue's conundrum is Gallant is heading westward as he's engaged to Jocelyn Peterman, who is from Alberta and plays for Jennifer Jones’ team in Manitoba.

Although the residency rules were altered in 2019 to grant “birthright” status for players who were born in a province but no longer live there, that doesn't help Team Gushue. Gallant lives in St. John’s, but he's originally from P.E.I. 

Only Gushue and Nichols, who have played together since juniors and also claimed Olympic gold together in 2006, were born and raised in the province. Unless Curling Canada changes the residency rules to include "honourary Newfoundlanders," no amount of Screech consumed or kissed cod will change that for Gallant and Walker. 

Gushue admitted with the present residency rules that it looks “doubtful” his team is going to be able to all stay together. 

“There's probably going to be some changes there, but we haven't sat down as a team and said, 'This is the way it's going to be,'” Gushue said. “That's going to happen after (the Brier), but we have had some discussions. We know Brett is moving out west, so I know things are going to change. What that change is going to be? I don't know."

He's probably not alone as Gushue foresees other men's teams making changes, too.

"I think for curling fans there's going to be a very interesting probably four weeks following the Brier, and maybe not even four weeks. It might all pan out in a week or two, but there's going to be some shakeup for sure," Gushue said. "Even on the women's side, there's going to be quite a bit. It's going to be interesting, we'll see how it all pans out."

He added after a laugh: "Hopefully, I can find three guys that want to play with me. That's all I'm worried about.” 

Gushue believes there needs to be some loosening of the rules with teams looking to form the best possible lineup to reach the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Italy and sorting out all the residency issues afterward. 

“There's no sense in sugarcoating because that's what's going to happen,” Gushue said. “That's the conversations that are already happening, I'm sure, and I'm also quite certain that Curling Canada’s aware of it as well. We do want to send the best team to the world championship and the best team to the Olympics, and the residency rule doesn't always allow that.” 

Gushue explained he’s the “perfect person to speak about” that as the depth of top curlers available in Newfoundland and Labrador can't compare to provinces such as Alberta, Manitoba or Ontario. 

“When there was a strict residency rule in Newfoundland, we had very limited choice in who we could have,” Gushue said. “I was always jealous of teams like Kevin (in Alberta) or Glenn Howard (in Ontario), who had a wider pool of talent to choose from. Here in Newfoundland, we just didn't have that and that didn't allow us to create the best team that we possibly could have.

"I think without that residency rule or certainly more leniency with it, we're going to see some better teams form over the next four-to-eight years.” 

Team Gushue looks to represent Canada for a second time this year competing as Wild Card One in the Brier with eyes on the world championship next month in Las Vegas. Gushue is also expected to play in the final two Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling events of the season at the Princess Auto Players’ Championship (April 12-17, Toronto) and Kioti Tractor Champions Cup (May 3-8, Olds, Alta.).