Canada’s Team Gushue wins opener at Pan Continental Championships

LACOMBE, Alta. — One of the most scrutinized and talked-about lineup changes in curling history made its debut in impressive fashion Sunday morning at the Gary Moe Auto Group Sportsplex.

Team Brad Gushue, which announced early this month that it would be replacing E.J. Harnden at second with Brendan Bottcher, opened pursuit of a third consecutive gold medal at the 2024 Pan Continental Curling Championships by dispatching South Korea’s Team Jaebeom Lee 10-3.

It was an impressive start from Gushue, Bottcher, vice-skip Mark Nichols, lead Geoff Walker, alternate Adam Casey, team coach Jeff Hoffart and national coach Jeff Stoughton, and while there is plenty of work to be done in the coming weeks and months, Sunday morning’s win was the first step in the right direction for the rejigged lineup.

“We had a couple good days in Edmonton; we had four practices (with Bottcher), and I’m actually pretty tired,” said Gushue with a laugh. “And then one more yesterday, so we’ve actually had a good opportunity to get ready. To be honest, I actually think he’s fitting in pretty well. The way he throws it, he’s made some adjustments from last year and it’s actually closer to how we throw. There’s some nuance stuff that you figure out the more we play and get comfortable with him, but right now, I’m thrilled with where we’re at after four days. Certainly he’s not going to be one of the five or 10 best sweepers in the world, we know that. But if we get the Brendan who goes out there and curls 90 or 95 per cent most games, we’re going to be in great position.”

It wasn’t quite at that number on Sunday as Bottcher finished the game scored at 82 per cent, which was more than offset by both Gushue and Walker firing perfect 100 per cent games (Nichols was at 86).

But for Bottcher, the numbers didn’t tell the story.

“There were a few (butterflies),” he admitted with a smile. “It’s a little bit of a new role, and for as long as I’ve been doing this, I don’t have a lot of those new experiences (any more), but today was certainly one of them. I thought the guys were awesome; they’re really good teammates and they made it easy for me, and I just had a blast out there. I had a lot of fun.”

The teams traded singles to open the game, and it was Team Canada that got the early momentum when Gushue drew for two in the third end, and then followed up with a steal of two in the fourth on the heels of Gushue making a precise pick with his final stone to remove a nearly fully buried South Korean stone. Lee was heavy with his draw against two.

Trying the pick, instead of the easier guard that almost surely would have forced South Korea to one, was an example of Gushue’s confidence in his new lineup, as well as the team’s approach in Lacombe. Teams are attempting to qualify their countries for the 2025 BKT Tires World Men’s Curling Championship in Moose Jaw, Sask., but Canada already has its berth as the host country.

“Listen, I think we’re going to try to give it 110 per cent here. I know Canada already has a spot, but it’s just as important for us to perform well for Canada, and also to learn more as a team. So we’re completely engaged here this week. We have a lot to achieve, and hopefully we can do that. I don’t expect our team to let down in any situation. Brendan is super-competitive, and Mark, Geoff and I are pretty cutthroat, too.”

Canada would add another stolen point in the fifth, and then prompted a concession from South Korea when Gushue made a short raise takeout to score four in the seventh.

Much has been made about Bottcher, a career skip, being able to adjust to a new role as a front-end sweeper, but as a mixed doubles player (he’s partnered with Rachel Homan this season), he’s been doing plenty of sweeping, and coaches through his junior career taught him the essential techniques he still uses today.

“It’s been great. I’ve been focused on sweeping this year with mixed doubles anyways, so this has given me the opportunity to double down on that,” he said. “All of my years of skipping, I understand what a skip needs to hear sometimes, and I think I can add a little bit of value in those moments.”

In other men’s Draw 1 games, Japan’s Team Shinya Abe rolled to a 9-1 win over Chinese Taipei’s Team Ken Hsu; Team John Shuster of the U.S. toppled New Zealand’s Team Anton Hood 10-2; and China’s Team Xiaoming Xu knocked off Australia’s Team Hugh Millikin 8-4.

The Canadian men will complete their opening-day slate later Sunday at 7:30 p.m. (all times Mountain) against Chinese Taipei.

Canada’s Team Rachel Homan will make its Pan Continental Championships debut Sunday at 1:30 p.m. against Team Cory Thiesse of the United States.

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2024 Pan Continental Curling Championships is available by CLICKING HERE.

All games are being streamed live on The Curling Channel.CLICK HERE for details.

Ticket information for the 2024 Pan Continental Curling Championships is available by CLICKING HERE.

This story will be posted in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/category-all-posts-fr/?lang=fr