As Brad Gushue went to shake John Shuster’s hand in a 9-4 defeat, the crowd at the HearingLife Canadian Open in Saskatoon, Sask., rose to their feet, realizing Gushue had just played his final Grand Slam of Curling match.
Gushue, just like many other Canadian curling legends who came before him, slid down the ice after the game, giving the crowd one final ‘thank you’ while they saluted him.
He wasn’t the only Canadian team to lose, though. Olympic-bound Brad Jacobs also lost in the quarterfinal against Scotland’s Team Ross Whyte.
While on the women’s side, for the first time this season on the GSOC tour, there will be a winner other than Canada’s Team Rachel Homan.
After a shocking shutout loss against fellow Canadian Kerri Einarson on Friday, Homan couldn’t rebound and took the 5-4 loss against Japan’s Team Satsuki Fujisawa in the quarterfinals.
Einarson didn't fare much better, as she dropped her quarterfinal match as well, losing 9-6 vs. Japan’s Team Sayaka Yoshimura.
Meaning, for the first time in Grand Slam of Curling history, no Canadian men’s or women’s team made the semifinals in the same tournament.
Saturday’s results (Full scores and standings)
Draw 17
Yoshimura 7, Hasselborg 1
Tabata 6, Kang 4
Retornaz 9, Waddell 8 (EE)
Draw 18
Tabata 7, Ha 6
Fujisawa 5, Homan 4
Tirinzoni 7, Wang 4
Yoshimura 9, Einarson 6
Draw 19
Whyte 8, Jacobs 6
Y. Schwaller 7, Muskatewitz 1
Shuster 9, Gushue 4
Mouat 5, Retornaz 3
Draw 20
Whyte 6, Mouat 4
Y. Schwaller 7, Shuster 5
Fujisawa 7, Tabata 5
Tirinzoni 5, Yoshimura 4
New winners guaranteed
Along with the women's side, there will be a new winner on the Slam tour for the men’s side. With Canada’s Team Matt Dunstone (didn’t make the playoffs) and Scotland’s Team Bruce Mouat (lost in semifinals) both being eliminated, it has opened the door for someone new.
That new winner will either be Switzerland's Team Yannick Schwaller, who beat Shuster in semifinal action 7-5, and is looking for his first GSOC title ever or Whyte, who upset Mouat 6-4 and is looking for his second career GSOC title.
The women’s final is made up of Switzerland's Team Silvana Tirinzoni and Fujisawa, who each won their respective semifinal matches. Tirinzoni will be going for her sixth GSOC title, while Fujisawa will be going for her second.
Tirinzoni has lost all three previous finals this season to Homan.
Gushue bows out against Shuster
As Dr. Seuss once said: ‘Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.’
The 15-time GSOC champion Gushue and his team got out to a great start against Shuster. With Gushue sitting one in the first end without hammer, and with there being no way Shuster could get at it without risking giving up more, he elected to throw it away.
Despite Gushue giving Shuster a deuce on the second end, it felt earned, not given, which suggested it would be a tight match. That looked more and more true after Gushue was only able to get a single with hammer in the third end.
In the fourth end, however, Gushue was sitting pretty until he wasn’t.
Gushue had one on the button with protection on both sides. His rocks on the right and Shuster's on the left – the easier side. Even though they were Shuster’s stones, they were set up in a diagonal, with two guards out front after Gushue threw his last stone.
Not willing to just throw this stone away, Shuster attempted a triple-angle tap back with the chance, if made right, to score three and blow the game open for the second half.
Shuster came through for his squad, delivering a beautiful shot that, before it was even made, had his teammates yelling, "Let's go! Let’s go, John." That’s just how good it was.
For Shuster’s Team, the shot gave them all the momentum, while for Gushue’s squad, they tried not to let it defeat them, but there was no denying that it affected how they played the rest of the way.
Gushue tried a wild shot of his own in the fifth end that just barely missed, giving up a steal of two to trail 7-2 with three ends left.
In the sixth end, Gushue was able to grab a deuce, but just gave it right back in the seventh to Shuster, and that was enough for Gushue to shake one last time.
When Gushue joined Devin Heroux after the game, despite being "frustrated" with his play in his final game, he was happy with what his team did.
‘I’m proud of what we did this week. I thought we played very well this week.’
And it’s clear Gushue valued playing in each GSOC event he could.
"It’s made me the curler that I am. We had some incredible experiences, incredible competition, and, yeah, I’m going to miss it for sure."
However, it wasn't the final time Gushue will be on ice as a competitive curler, though, as he has one major tournament left. The Montana’s Brier, in his own backyard, St. John’s, N.L., Feb. 27- March 8, where he will look to earn his seventh Brier title.
Homan loses back-to-back games to be eliminated
Even No. 1 in the world can’t win everything.
For Homan, the week started off strong as usual, rolling to a 3-0 start with a plus-12 point differential, clinching her 13th straight Slam playoff appearance.
It felt like Homan and her team were well on their way to their fourth-straight GSOC title this season, and record-setting 21st overall for Homan and longtime teammate Emma Miskew.
However, in Homan’s final round robin game against Einarson, nothing looked the same. Homan couldn’t get anything to go her way, losing 8-0 after giving up steals in all five ends.
The loss was shocking to say the least. It was just the fourth time in her last 92 starts against Canadian teams that she lost, but the third time she lost to Einarson.
That being said, Homan was still 3-1 on the week and could refocus for her quarterfinal match against Fujisawa.
In the first end, that’s exactly how Homan and her team looked, refocused. They played a solid end that would finish with a nice draw from Homan to get her deuce.
Even in the second end, Homan got what she wanted from Fujisawa, forcing her to take a single point and earn the hammer back.
From there, everything changed.
A good end from Fujisawa left Homan with a half-open hit for just one, something Homan has made a million times before. However, similarly to her match against Einarson when she had a hit down the left-hand side, she threw too much weight again, and the rock ran straight. Homan was only able to hit and roll out, giving up a steal of one to tie the game.
Fujisawa would steal one more in the fourth end before Homan finally scored one herself in the fifth.
Once again, Homan got the force in the sixth end, but after another great end by Fujisawa in the seventh, Homan elected to give up one and keep the hammer coming home while trailing 5-3.
Homan tried to set up the deuce right away, but by the time she went to throw her final shot, Fujisawa was sitting one once again in the four-foot with four (Four!) rocks guarding it.
The only chance Homan had at two points was attempting a super long, angled double tap back into the four-foot to hit Fujisawa’s rock while sticking the shooter.
And well, because it’s Homan, she almost made the shot-of-the-year.
She got the angle right and even hit Fujisawa’s rock out, but had too much weight to stick around, losing 5-4. With the loss, it ended Homan’s GSOC semifinals streak at 12.
The HearingLife Canadian Open continues tomorrow on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+, starting at 12 p.m. ET / 9 a.m. PT with the women’s final action.
Featured matches
Women’s final at 12 p.m. ET / 9 a.m. PT
Men’s final at 4:30 p.m. ET / 1:30 p.m. PT
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