Gushue faces strong field at Brier

Until he’s dethroned, Newfoundland’s Brad Gushue will be the favourite every time he slides out of the hack at the Canadian men’s curling championship.

Gushue has a record six Canadian titles in his distinguished career, and he’s going for No. 7 this week in Kelowna at the Montana’s Brier. A victory would give him and his rink of third Mark Nichols, second Brendan Bottcher and lead Geoff Walker an unprecedented four consecutive championships.

Since winning his first Brier in front of home fans in St. John’s in 2017, Gushue has guided his rink to Brier titles in 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. Last year, in Regina, the 2017 world champion and 2006 Olympic gold medallist defeated Saskatchewan’s Mike McEwen in the final for his third consecutive win.

Despite Gushue’s stellar record in recent Briers, he and his rink are far from a sure thing this week in Kelowna. Among the 18 competitors are at least three or four who could easily dethrone him and recent mediocre Grand Slam results indicate that Gushue and his rink could be ripe for the taking.

In January’s WFC Masters in Guelph, Gushue went winless in four games within his pool and, naturally, didn’t advance to the playoffs. But that event was held shortly after former Brier champion skip Bottcher had joined the team, replacing E.J. Harndon, and the team chemistry may have not have been up to snuff. It should be by now.

Again, this year’s Brier field is solid. Four rinks — Gushue, Dunstone, Mike McEwen and Brad Jacobs —pre-qualified through a variety of on-ice successes, while the other 14 rinks qualified through provincial and territorial championships.

McEwen, Dunstone and Jacobs are likely the strongest challengers to Gushue. All have had success on the Grand Slam circuit this year and any one of those rinks would be strong challengers to the suddenly dominant Scottish rinks on the world stage. (Bruce Mouat of Scotland is No. 1 in the world while the top Canadian-ranked team is Dunstone, at No. 3. Gushue has fallen to eighth).

Other Brier contenders could be four-time Brier champ Kevin Koe, Northern Ontario’s John Epping, Saskatchewan’s Rylan Kleiter and Manitoba champ Reid Carruthers.

Whoever comes out of Kelowna wearing the Brier crown earns a trip to Moose Jaw for the world championships starting March 29. And if the winner in Kelowna thought the competition was stiff in the Okanagan city, just wait. Mouat and Ross Whyte of Scotland are ranked No. 1 and No. 3 in the world. Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller is No. 2 and Germany’s up-and-coming rink skipped by Marc Muskatewitz showed signs in Grand Slam events recently that he’s ready for the world stage. Italy’s Joel Retornaz is also a world power, and lately curlers from Asian countries have shown they’re on the way up.

Gushue’s not thinking that far ahead. Kelowna and the Canadian championship is his focus this week and the challenge is daunting.

OUT OF BOUNDS

• Columnist Norman Chad, on more things overheard from the four-legged competitors through the years at the Westminster Dog Show at Madison Square Garden: 1. “I’m fed up with online dating — how come everyone looks like Lassie in their photo?”; 2. “There’s a German Shepherd in Stall 231 who acts like they won World Wars I and II.”

• Globe and Mail columnist Cathal Kelly, on the recent U.S. animosity toward Canada and its chumminess with Russia: “ If Hollywood made Rocky IV again, Ivan Drago would be from Winnipeg.”

• Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun: “Maybe Donald Trump wants to take over Canada just so his country can win a hockey tournament again.”

• Headline at TheBeaverton.com: “Canada annexes 4 Nations Championship”

• Toronto Star’s Bruce Arthur, on X: “Making (Wayne) Gretzky the honorary captain … (at the U.S- Canada final) was almost the equivalent of a phantom limb. His silence while palling around with a man who wants to destroy Canada is deafening.”

• Comedy guy Steve Burgess of Vancouver: “ Gretzky is our honourary captain? He’ll go to centre ice and surrender.”

• Comedian Torben Rolfsen of Vancouver: “Fans in Montreal not only booed the U.S. anthem, they booed the announcement asking fans to show respect for the anthem.”

• Another one from Rolfsen, after a number of arrests were made during the post-game celebrations following the Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl win: “Most of them were released the next morning. The worst ones were sentenced to watch Rocky V.”

• RJ Currie of sportsdeke.com: “Canucks starting goaltender Thatcher Demko is out week-to-week, and he’ll be replaced by backup Kevin Lankinen. Demko is hampered by a lower body injury and a lower save percentage.”

• Headline at fark.com: “Travis Kelce showers Taylor Swift with $100K in Valentine’s gifts. Meanwhile, the rest of us are still debating if a $20 box of chocolates is too much.”

» Care to comment? Email brucepenton2003@yahoo.ca