Gushue wins 15th GSOC title at Princess Auto Players' Championship in thrilling fashion

TORONTO — Canada’s Brad Gushue captured a 15th career Grand Slam of Curling title after fending off Italy’s Joël Retornaz 7-6 during an intense Princess Auto Players’ Championship men’s final Sunday.

Although Great Big Sea’s “Ordinary Day” played over the loud speakers at the Mattamy Athletic Centre during the trophy celebration, this was far from an ordinary Grand Slam win for Gushue and his crew from St. John’s, N.L., featuring third Mark Nichols, second E.J. Harnden and lead Geoff Walker.

Gushue held the hammer coming home with the score tied at 6-6 and missed on his first skip shot as his runback sailed straight through the port untouched. That allowed Retornaz to sit three, forcing Gushue into a tricky draw on his last.

The slow claps from the crowd picked up as Gushue’s rock rolled down the sheet, and a range of emotions echoed as it pinballed in and hit the brakes in time at the back of the four-foot circle.

“It’s exciting,” said Gushue. who also claimed a sixth Brier title and a world championship silver medal in recent weeks. “Right down to the last second, I had to look up on the screen to see if it was going to stop in time. I was surprised it slid that far but what a way to finish. It was a perfect ending when you look at how we lost the world championship. To turn around and win the Players’ Championship in the exact same fashion was pretty cool.”

“It feels great,” Nichols added. “I feel like the way we’ve played over the last six, eight weeks, we deserved it. Brad played unbelievable all day and all week. To leave him a draw to the four-foot, not the easiest one, it feels great to cap off the last couple of months with a nice win against a really tough field.”

Gushue, who also won the Players’ title in 2016, now holds sole possession of second place on the Grand Slam of Curling’s all-time men’s title wins list among skips. He previously shared the mark with Glenn Howard and inched one step closer to Kevin Martin’s record of 18.

It was also Harnden’s birthday and what a way to celebrate with the near-capacity crowd serenating the now 41-year-old by singing “Happy Birthday” during their celebration.

“The atmosphere was unbelievable,” Nichols said. “There was tons of energy, more than we’ve seen in the past. The crowd was into it and that’s what we like as competitors. We like being in a building when the seats are full and there’s tons of energy. We get to put on a bit of a show for the fans and this was a really nice way to end it.”

Gushue also praised the Toronto crowd, especially when the Blue Jays were at home and playing down the road at the same time.

“It was amazing,” Gushue said. “It’s been, I don’t know how many years we’ve been here but … the last couple of days, these are some of the best crowds that we’ve seen. It didn’t matter who was playing, they showed up, and it was really fun. It was a fun atmosphere to be in and I enjoyed myself.”

Team Gushue and Team Retornaz arrived at the event straight from the world championship in Switzerland where both finished on the podium. Their clubs may have been fighting fatigue all week here, but were intent on delivering until the end with the summer break on the horizon.

The teams drew to the button to determine the hammer to start and Gushue landed right on the lid to secure last-rock advantage. Retornaz sat two rocks across the rings, though, to force Gushue to hit for just a single in the first end.

Retornaz then went to work in the second and was able to hit for two, but Gushue responded right back in the third with a draw for a deuce to retake the lead.

Deuces were wild as Retornaz punched Gushue's rock off the button in the fourth to count another couple of points, and Gushue drew for two more to jump back ahead.

The back-and-forth pattern came to a halt in the sixth as Retornaz's run double attempt missed the back counter to give up a steal and give Gushue a 6-4 lead.

“I felt like they controlled the game for quite a bit of it,” Gushue said. “I thought the second end, it looked like we were going to give up four and we made a good hit and roll and then a good draw to cut them down to two.

“The whole game was scary, to be quite honest, and we just made some shots to get out of it and then had control coming home. Got that big steal in six, I think was a key turning point.”

Retornaz sat the tying two points on the button in the seventh and looked to raise his guard in for possibly another one, however, he didn't get it quite right and only got the equalizer that set the table for the thrilling final frame of the season.

“There’s only one team that can finish like that on the men’s side and fortunately for us, it’s our second win at the Players’, so you finish off the season with a win and you get to sit on that,” Nichols said. “We’ll enjoy the next few weeks, take a break, get recharged and then start planning for next season.”

Gushue added: “We lost the final of the Champions Cup last year and it was a good way to finish but you want to win the last one. To finish it off this year, it’s going to make the next couple of weeks a little sweeter.”

Retornaz, third Amos Mosaner, second Sebastiano Arman and lead Mattia Giovanella — who finished 2023-24 as the No. 1 ranked team in the world — won three consecutive Grand Slams to start the season and were looking for a series record fourth title on the year.

“I said to all of them, what an incredible season,” Gushue said. “Three Slams, losing the final of another one, a world bronze medal. They were the No. 1 team in the world this year and there’s no question about that. For us to knock them off here and get a Players’ championship, it’s a satisfying way for us to finish the year.”

Nichols echoed those sentiments.

“They’ve had an unbelievable season and they proved why they’re No. 1 in the world,” he said. “They’re getting to Slam finals, they’re always in contention when they play and we knew we had our hands full. Lucky that the guys played unbelievable today. A draw to the four-foot feels great.”

Earlier, Switzerland's Team Silvana Tirinzoni topped Sweden's Team Isabella Wranå 6-5 to win the Princess Auto Players' Championship women's title.

The Grand Slam of Curling returns in the fall with the HearingLife Tour Challenge kicking off the 2024-25 campaign, Oct. 1-6, at Charlottetown's Bell Aliant Centre.