Brier Live: Gushue wins first career Canadian men’s championship

Newfoundland and Labrador skip Brad Gushue at the 2017 Tim Hortons Brier in St. John's. (Anil Mungal)

What a finish.

In his 14th appearance at the Tim Hortons Brier, Brad Gushue captured his first career Canadian men’s curling championship on home ice with a 7-6 win over Team Canada’s Kevin Koe in Sunday’s final in St. John’s, N.L.

Here’s how it all went down:

10TH END

Koe’s first skip stone picks out of his hand, Gushue hits it and catches the counter in the house sending it to the back of the eight-foot circle. Koe’s last lands at the top of the eight-foot and Gushue needs full eight for the win. Gushue draws and just barely gets it. NL 7, CAN 6

Pure happiness!!! I am so proud of @gwalker71 and @teamgushue!! #BrierChamps #Brier2017

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9TH END

Team Canada third Marc Kennedy looks to hit and roll under, but goes out completely. Gushue capitalizes bumping his own, pushing Koe’s lone stone out and sits three staggered counters. Koe draws underneath to get to the four-foot circle, but Gushue sees just enough to pick it out. That limits Koe to draw for one and sweepers Brent Laing and Ben Hebert drag it in for shot. NL 6, CAN 6

8TH END

A missed opportunity by Gushue sees his first skip stone hit but stay open. Koe bops it out for shot rock and holds a second just biting the rings. Gushue is forced to hit and stick for a single. NL 6, CAN 5

7TH END

Gushue goes for a runback on his first skip rock, but misses Canada’s shot stone at the top of the four-foot circle. Koe draws to the back edge of the four-foot on his last to sit two. Gushue plays the double, jams it and third Mark Nichols can’t sweep it far enough as Canada steals. NL 5, CAN 5

6TH END

Koe blows up a cluster of rocks with a hard nose hit triple to score three points and cut the deficit down to one. NL 5, CAN 4

5TH END

Koe faces a triangle and freezes for second shot to force Gushue to draw for a deuce. NL 5, CAN 1

4TH END

Canada sits shot stone at the back of the four-foot with N.L. holding two just up top in the circle. Koe looks to run back a guard and squeeze in there, but his shooter wrecks on a guard and only gets the single. NL 3, CAN 1

3RD END

A miss by Nichols opened the door for Koe to split the rings and sit two. Gushue gets out of trouble with a double takeout on his last and Koe hits and rolls out to blank. NL 3, CAN 0

2ND END

With Gushue already sitting three in the house, Koe looks to bail his team out with a runback. The raised stone takes out only one and rolls off to sit third shot, allowing Gushue to draw with Nichols jumping up to drag it in for three points. NL 3, CAN 0

1ST END

Newfoundland and Labrador opens with the hammer and blanks the first. NL 0, CAN 0

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