Gushue upends McEwen for first win at WFG Masters

SASKATOON — Team Brad Gushue battled back from a slow start to score a 9-5 victory over hometown heroes Team Mike McEwen during Draw 4 Tuesday night in the WFG Masters.

Gushue opened with the hammer but had to draw against two McEwen stones in the first end and counted the single point following a measurement. McEwen took charge and connected on an open hit to score a deuce in the second then stole one in the third for a 3-1 advantage as Gushue’s raise takeout attempt missed the mark.

The 14-time Grand Slam champion Gushue and his crew from St. John’s, N.L., regrouped in the fourth end with an open hit for three points then stole two in the fifth to lead 6-3 after McEwen misfired an angle raise and took out his stone instead.

McEwen, who has won seven Grand Slam of Curling titles, bounced back with a deuce in the sixth, however, the Saskatoon squad shook hands after Team Gushue delivered a solid seventh end and made a tap to count three more points.

“The first three ends we were a little bit sloppy, I guess, and fortunate to get one on a measurement in the first end,” Gushue said. “Then we gave up two and gave up a steal in the third. We’re kind of forcing the issue a little bit in the fourth but we made some good shots, got a little bit of a mistake from Mike and their team and we were able to capitalize and get three. That kind of shifted the momentum.

“Played a good fifth end, fortunate to get a steal of two there but it’s hard to say it’s a great game that we played. We capitalized on some mistakes.”

Team Gushue is coming off a gold medal-winning performance at the Karuizawa International tournament in Japan.

“I had never been to Japan before, so to go over there, experience it and to come away with a win was nice,” Gushue said. “The downside is you deal with the jetlag. I ended up getting sick over there in the last couple of days, so I’ve been dealing with that over the last week as well in addition to the jetlag. …

“We had a great time. They run a great event, the hospitality was first class and I certainly recommend any of the top teams to go over there and experience it at least once.”

Karuizawa is where curling made its return to the Olympics as a full-medal competition during the 1998 Nagano Winter Games and Gushue was able to soak up the atmosphere.

"It’s not the exact same building but we got to go over and see the building. It’s cool to see that and see where certainly a big moment in Canadian sport history and Canadian curling history (happened)," he said. "To see where it happened and say you were there was pretty cool.

"We got to see the Olympic torches, which were pretty cool too. Any time you see those things is nice. We had a great trip."

Elsewhere in Draw 4, Calgary's Team Brendan Bottcher beat Team Aaron Sluchinski of Airdrie 7-3 in an all-Alberta matchup.

Switzerland's Team Yannick Schwaller scored four in the first end and defeated Team Korey Dropkin of the United States 6-3.

Scotland's Team Ross Whyte tacked three points on the board in an extra end to edge Norway's Team Magnus Ramsfjell 8-5.

UP NEXT

The WFG Masters resumes Wednesday with Draw 5 at 9:30 a.m. ET / 8:30 a.m. local time at Merlis Belsher Place.

Broadcast coverage begins with Draw 10 Thursday at 1 p.m. ET / 12 p.m. local time on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.

NOTES

The WFG Masters is the third Grand Slam of Curling event of the season featuring 16 of the top men's teams and 16 of the top women's teams from around the world... Round-robin play runs through to Friday evening. The top eight teams in both divisions advance to Saturday's quarterfinals. If necessary, tiebreakers will be played Saturday morning to determine the final playoff spots... The semifinals are also scheduled for Saturday with both finals on tap Sunday.