Gushue faces tougher path to Brier final after comeback win by Dunstone

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Manitoba skipper Matt Dunstone had just thrown the game-winning shot against Brad Gushue and his hometown team from Newfoundland and Labrador, silencing the crowd at Mary Brown’s Centre, who were seconds earlier willing Gushue's last rock to slide just a bit further.

“Sorry to rain on the parade, guys,” Dunstone said, on Friday afternoon.

Kind of him to apologize, but did he ever make it rain. Dunstone, Colton Lott, and E.J. and Ryan Harnden beat Gushue’s crowd favourites in the opener of the playoffs, meaning Dunstone is now a win away from the Brier finals, while Gushue and co. have to take the long way to try to earn another shot at the Tankard.

The long way began later Friday, as Gushue earned a 12-6 win over Ontario's rookie Brier squad, skipped by Jayden King. It's the first of four win-or-go-home situations for Gushue in what is his 23rd and final Brier appearance, since he’s set to retire after this season.

As the skip put it, following their loss Friday morning: "Now we’re on our face and can’t afford to lose any more games.”

Next up for Gushue, Mark Nichols, Brendan Bottcher and Geoff Walker is none other than reigning Olympic gold medallist and Brier champion, Brad Jacobs, whose Team Canada also lost early Friday to Kevin Koe's Alberta foursome, the only undefeated team left in the field. That sets up for the final ever head-to-head match-up between Gushue and Jacobs, and the winner advances to the Brier semi-final.

"I'm done with this day," Jacobs said, after his team's Friday night win over Manitoba rookie skip, Braden Calvert, to stay in contention. "That was a long day. We're exhausted and just ready for bed."

Rightly so, too. It wasn't even two weeks ago that Jacobs, Marc Kennedy, Brad Gallant and Ben Hebert won Olympic gold in Italy.

"It's gonna be a tough bounce-back for both our teams," Gushue said of the impending Battle of the Brads, pointing out both teams had been at the arena for more than 12 hours on Friday. "So, very long day, and probably a short night's sleep. I think the crowd is going to be energetic, and I'm looking forward to it."

It's a shift in mindset from early Friday, when Gushue was oh-so-close to avoiding the long way to the final. Gushue led Dunstone by a point in the 10th, and Team Manitoba had hammer. With his last, Gushue tried to put up a guard, and he hogged it, despite nearly every fan in the building cheering on that rock, willing it to slide a little further. Still, it stopped short.

“Just under-threw it, I guess,” a disappointed Gushue said.

It turned the game that was probably going an extra end on its head, leaving Dunstone an open in-turn angle raise for the game-winner, and he made no mistake.

“I’ve been saying ever since I knew this Brier was going to be in St. John’s, that’s the moment I wanted,” said Dunstone, a two-time Brier silver medallist. “Curling, there’s not many home and away teams, arenas, matchups, things like that. Today we had one, we were the obvious away team. And, yeah, probably a moment I’ll remember for a very long time.”

In Saturday night’s 1/2 Page Playoff, Dunstone will play Koe, whose Team Alberta beat Jacobs Friday afternoon to record their ninth straight win.

Koe took control of the game against the reigning Olympic champions with an absolute beauty of a final shot in the seventh, when he navigated closely past a pair of guards and knocked out three Team Canada stones to sit three himself. The shot was so good that this very pro Team Newfoundland and Labrador crowd chanted: “Kooooo-eeeee!” in appreciation of the skipper.

“Yeah, it was risky,” Koe said of the shot that gave his Team Alberta the 5-3 lead and teed up an eventual 7-4 victory that came down to the final shot. “We could have given up two, or even one…We all felt it was worth the chance, and this time, it worked for us.”

Right after it worked for them, Koe, the 51-year-old and four-time Brier champion, slid down the ice straight-faced before fist-bumping his teammates.

Though he didn’t show it outwardly, the win over Jacobs’s Team Canada is a huge one for Koe, who lost in the final of the Brier in this very building back in 2017, to none other than Gushue.

“Those guys are the best in the world, and I thought we stuck in there pretty well all game,” Koe said of Team Jacobs. “So, good character-builder for us as a squad, there.”

Before Koe plays Dunstone on Saturday night — the winner goes to the final, the loser to the semi-final — one Brier semi-finalist will be decided here, as Gushue and Jacobs go toe-to-toe in Saturday afternoon's Page 3/4 playoff.

Jacobs's Team Canada is ready to be the clear non-favourite in that one.

"They're going to be cheering hard for their guys and for their man. I don't blame them at all," Jacobs said. "This is Brad's last Brier. They will bring a lot of positive, great, energy for them."

Positive and great energy is what Team Jacobs, the reigning Brier champions, need in order to take the long road to win the Brier title, as they did last year.

After his second game Friday, Jacobs said he didn't know if his team had the juice to manage that again this year, so soon after an exhausting and incredible run to Olympic gold. "Time will tell," Jacobs said, if they have enough in the tank. "Everyone will find out."

Gushue, meanwhile, was all smiles after his win Friday night, closer to one last Brier title, and right at home, though he was quick to point out they're still three wins away, with a tough road ahead.

"Still in it," Gushue said, with a grin.