CHARLOTTETOWN — It took Team Brad Gushue four days to get two wins to start the HearingLife Tour Challenge. Now, the St. John’s, N.L., crew will look to earn its fourth win in two days to capture the title.
Team Gushue made it through a marathon Saturday to reach the men’s final defeating Team Niklas Edin 3-2 during the morning C-qualifiers, Team Ross Whyte 5-4 in the afternoon quarterfinals and Team Matt Dunstone 7-3 in the evening semifinals.
Gushue will play Team Bruce Mouat in Sunday’s championship game.
“It’s crazy how these events work,” Gushue said. “You play one game a day, you feel like you don’t play at all and then all of a sudden you show up on Saturday and you’ve got to play three and a tight turnaround between now and tomorrow morning. Hopefully, we can get as much rest as we can, come out and maybe improve just another notch tomorrow.”
“It’s going to be a quick turnaround,” he added. “I don’t think we’re going to get as much sleep as what we would like after a day like today but hopefully some adrenaline, a big crowd and a supportive crowd should be behind us, which will help.”
Meanwhile, Mouat rolled through the A Event of the triple knockout stage and kept its unblemished record intact with an 8-4 win over Team James Craik during an all-Scottish showdown in the quarterfinals and a 6-2 victory against Saskatoon’s Team Mike McEwen in the semis.
“I think we just came out with a really good intensity this afternoon,” said Mouat, who was the only A-qualifier to even make it out of the quarterfinals. “We played really well against James and the boys and then just carried that into the game against Mike. We’re in a good spot and we’re playing well and enjoying ourselves.”
While Mouat has been cruising, Gushue needed an extra end to solve Edin and had to pull off a double raise takeout with his last shot plus a measure to take two points for the win over Whyte. The incredible shot had the Bell Aliant Centre buzzing, but Gushue had little time to relish the moment as he had to prepare for his match against Dunstone which also came down to the wire.
Gushue was up by one without the hammer as Dunstone looked to draw for the equalizer, however, his rock came to a halt and didn’t make it leading to three stolen points on the board.
“I’m very tired. Three tight games,” said Gushue, who has won 15 Grand Slam of Curling titles. “It wasn’t even like we got a break in all of them. An extra end against Nik, had to make a double raise against Ross and then that one right down to the last shot. Three tough games, but I’m excited to get to the final. It hasn’t been our best week, but we’ve gotten better as the week has gone on.”
Gushue won the Tour Challenge in 2017 and is the only men’s skip to capture every title in the series. Mouat is aiming to join him in the club.
“It’s pretty important for us to get that,” Mouat said. “It’s very nice to have that as a record. We did the career Grand Slam last year but this one is a new addition since the original four came in. We’re very excited to be playing in the final and it’s going to be a tough game, so we’re just going to have to play like we are and hope for the best.”
Mouat got out to an early start this season winning back-to-back titles on tour out of the gate in August and surpassed Italy’s Team Joël Retornaz for the No. 1 spot in the world rankings.
“It’s been a really good start to our season,” Mouat said. “We feel confident and are trying to build something pretty special this year. Obviously, wanting to prove ourselves as one of the top teams in the world.”
Gushue said Team Mouat seems to be the exact opposite of his squad.
“They seem to be firing all on cylinders and we’re a little bit of smoke and mirrors right now,” said Gushue, who is third in the world rankings. “I think some experience is allowing us to give ourselves some chances to win and we may need that tomorrow.
“Hopefully, we can play the way that we’re capable of playing and if we can do that we can keep up with those guys and maybe we get Bruce and [vice skip] Grant [Hardie] and those guys on a day off.”
Ottawa’s Team Rachel Homan will face Team Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Man., in the women’s final.
Homan advanced with a 4-3 win over Winnipeg’s Team Kaitlyn Lawes while Einarson edged Team Satsuki Fujisawa of Japan 6-4 in an extra end during the semifinals.
Saskatoon’s Team Rylan Kleiter takes on Team Magnus Ramsfjell in the Tier 2 men’s final with Halifax’s Team Christina Black going up against Team Sayaka Yoshimura of Japan on the women’s side. The winners will receive berths to the WFG Masters in January.
The Tier 1 and Tier 2 men’s finals get underway at 11 a.m. AT / 10 a.m. ET (Sportsnet and Sportsnet+) followed by the women’s finals at 3:30 p.m. AT / 2:30 p.m. ET (Sportsnet One and Sportsnet+).
