Brad Gushue's short-handed Wild Card One team delivered one of its best performances of the Tim Hortons Brier on Sunday afternoon to secure a berth in the championship final against Alberta's Kevin Koe.
Throwing an impressive 95 per cent overall despite being down to three men, Gushue posted a 9-3 semifinal win over Canada's Brendan Bottcher.
Gushue made a hit for three in the seventh end and sealed the victory by stealing a pair in the eighth.
"I'm on fumes right now," Gushue said. "As I've said all week, I've felt tired. Now it's just finding enough (strength). We've got one game left. There's enough energy for us to go play a game and give 110 per cent."
Gushue, Mark Nichols, Brett Gallant and Geoff Walker won Olympic bronze last month in Beijing. They went 8-0 in round-robin play at the Enmax Centre and have gone 2-1 since Nichols withdrew from the event after testing positive for COVID-19.
Koe, from Calgary, will be looking to win a record fifth career Brier title as a skip. His lineup includes B.J. Neufeld, John Morris and Ben Hebert. Gushue, meanwhile, will try to win a fourth national title in the last six years.
Koe, who lost last year's final in the Calgary bubble, defeated Bottcher in the 1-2 Page playoff game Saturday night to secure a direct berth to the final. Gushue topped Saskatchewan's Colton Flasch in the 3-4 Page playoff.
Both teams focused on defence at the outset of the semifinal.
Gushue made a nice draw under a centre guard in the fourth end to force Bottcher to tap for a single and 2-1 lead. Bottcher was wide with a runback in the fifth end to set up Gushue for a draw for three points.
"I was a little bit surprised in Brendan's strategy in allowing us to stay close early," Gushue said. "Fortunately for us, it was him that blinked early in the game and gave up a three."
The Canada skip caught a bad break in the sixth end when his stone picked, but he followed with a runback double-takeout to salvage a single.
Bottcher was light with his final shot in the seventh and Gushue took advantage for another three-ender.
"We just came out and didn't bring our 'A' game today," said Bottcher, who shot a game-low 69 per cent.
The Canadian team threw 79 per cent overall.
The Brier champions will earn $108,000 of the $300,000 total purse for the 18-team event. The second-place team will take $60,000 and Bottcher's rink claimed $40,000.
The victor will also represent Canada at the April 2-10 world men's curling championship.
Kerri Einarson won her third straight Scotties Tournament of Hearts title last month. She'll wear the Maple Leaf at the March 19-27 women's world curling championship in Prince George, B.C.
The 2023 Brier will be played at the Budweiser Gardens in London, Ont.
