Brad Gushue's legendary career ends after loss to Jacobs at Brier

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Brad Gushue hugged his wife and their two daughters, and then the skip turned and looked at the crowd one last time with tears in his eyes and a hand over his heart. 

“Thank you,” Gushue said. 

More than 6,000 people were still standing and clapping and cheering and clanging cowbells for the six-time Brier champion, the homegrown skipper who made so many of them fans of this game he’s now leaving behind.

The fairytale finish Gushue and his Team Newfoundland and Labrador were after in his finale on home ice didn’t end that way, with Gushue, Mark Nichols, Brendan Bottcher and Geoff Walker coming up three wins short of what would’ve been an incredible record-extending seventh Tankard for Gushue, who’s already the winningest skip ever in Canadian men’s curling history. Their run ended Saturday afternoon at Mary Brown’s Centre with a 7-5 loss to the defending Olympic champions and Gushue’s long-time rival, Brad Jacobs.

“You know what, I’m thankful for the amount of appreciation and love I’ve been shown,” a teary-eyed Gushue said, tears that started on the ice as he slid end-to-end waving and scanning the arena as thousands of fans cheered him on with the loudest and longest ovation he received during a game that featured more than a few long and loud roars. 

“That was special to me,” Gushue said. “That’s a memory I’ll have for the rest of my life.” 

What a farewell St. John’s gave the 45-year-old, who announced last September that he’d be retiring from men’s curling, setting the stage for a moment everyone knew was coming. 

Jacobs, Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert forced the issue on Saturday with their best game yet at the Brier, a back-and-forth Battle of the Brads finale that came down to the last shot. 

“Congrats on a great career,” Jacobs told Gushue, when it was over. “You’re the best ever.” 

If you ask Jacobs, it was “fitting” that if Gushue’s team lost in his Brier finale, it was to his team, because of all the history they share and what was the 69th Battle of the Brads matchup. “So, if anyone was going to end it for their week, I like that it’s us,” Jacobs said. 

For the record, Gushue doesn’t agree there: “It sucks to lose, no matter who it’s to,” he said. 

During the finale of his 23^rd and final Brier appearance, Gushue made sure to soak up some of the crowd’s adoration, knowing it could well be the last time he’d bring hometown fans to their feet. In the second end when he nailed a double takeout and got his team out of trouble, Gushue pumped his fist and scanned the arena with a smile on his face, watching as the fans lost it.

After Gushue made an incredible run-back double in the fifth end, Jacobs wondered aloud: “Why is he retiring?” Gushue then drew the button against two, tying the game 2-2 at the break.  

The momentum shifted an end later, though, and left Gushue chasing. He’d been perfect on his draws all game, but Gushue rubbed a guard on his last to leave Jacobs with a takeout for at least a pair. The skipper who won Olympic gold less than two weeks ago nailed it, leaving his shooter in play, scoring three and taking a commanding 5-2 lead.  

“When he made that shot for three in six, it was like, ‘Oh, it’s an uphill battle, and the likelihood is this is going to be the last one,’” Gushue said, though he tried not to let the emotions of “the last one” affect his play.  

His Team Newfoundland and Labrador fought back, answering with a pair in seven and forcing Jacobs to a single in eight, but they couldn’t convert to score two or more in nine after Team Canada’s Kennedy made some clutch hit-and-rolls. 

Down two in the tenth and without hammer, Gushue needed a big miss from Jacobs to earn a steal of one and force an extra end, which never came. 

As Gushue's final rock slid down the ice, fans rose to their feet and they roared and waved their provincial flags and pumped their signs proclaiming Gushue the GOAT, many of them wearing Gushue gear, a lot of it homemade. Some fans were clutching Gushue action figures (that don’t look much like him) and though cowbells were given to fans on the way in, their cheers were far louder than the bells they rang. To see the way Gushue is adored in his hometown is to witness the reception of a folk hero. 

Gushue leaves curling behind having won everything there is to win in his sport, the 2006 Olympic gold, 2022 Olympic bronze, six Briers, the 2017 world championships and 15 Grand Slams. 

He was looking to win that Tankard for a seventh time, right at home, at the site of the first he ever won back in 2017. At times it really looked like it was going to happen, even after Gushue lost to Matt Dunstone’s Team Manitoba Friday afternoon and faced four straight win-or-go-home games after that to win the title.

“We played good this week — we went 9-2 nine years ago and we won. We went 9-2 this year and we’re out, in fourth place,” Gushue said. “It’s just the nature of it. We didn’t win the right ones. It’s okay for me to be disappointed for a day or two, but at the end of the day, I think we performed pretty well.” 

Gushue probably hasn’t played his last game ever, since he may be back on the pebbled ice competing in mixed doubles with his daughters, if they agree to team up with Dad. 

For Nichols, it’s the end of a partnership that started back in juniors, and as the third reflected on what he’ll miss most about his long-time skip, he touched on what so many in curling have pointed to as Gushue’s legacy, the way he raised the bar. “The drive to continue to get better,” Nichols said. “You surround yourself with people who want to make themselves better, and they make you better. And I think we’ve gone hand-to-hand trying to do that with each other.” 

As Nichols spoke to the media, Gushue sat on a stool nearby with his head down, crying and rubbing his forehead. 

Unlike nine years ago in this very building, the Brier final on Sunday night won’t feature Gushue and his Team Newfoundland and Labrador, and harder to imagine still is that was the last we’ll see of Gushue as a competitive curler. 

The end was coming for Gushue, and everyone in St. John’s has been getting ready to say goodbye, with signs hanging all over the city featuring a picture of the skipper doing a fist-pump along with the words: “A Champion’s Farewell.” 

They certainly delivered a farewell worthy of their champion on Saturday.

Asked a few days ago what he was most proud of in his career, Gushue pointed to Olympic gold and his six Brier titles. His answer about what he’s most proud of has since changed, though. 

“What just happened out there was pretty cool,” Gushue said, still processing the fan reception he’d received. “To see that sort of love, I am not sure how to describe it. That’s pretty amazing. I feel very fortunate." 

The teary-eyed skipper nodded to himself and he added: “I’m going to miss this.”