THE BEAT GOES ON

Team Canada rolls on to gold-medal game of 2024 Montana’s Brier 

Facing skip Brad Gushue in a high pressure, high-stakes game is a heartbreaking proposition for the other guys. These are the moments Gushue lives for.

And, as he has done oh so many times before in critical situations, Gushue played a near-perfect game Saturday night to lead Team Canada to a 7-3 nine-end victory over Team Alberta-Bottcher in the Page 1-2 playoff at the 2024 Montana’s Brier, presented by AGI, in Regina.

The win boosts Gushue and his team from St. John’s, N.L., into Sunday’s gold-medal final where they will attempt to win a third straight Canadian men’s curling championship and become just the second team ever to win three straight Brier titles; Team Randy Ferbey of Edmonton did it from 2001 through 2003. It would also represent a record sixth Montana’s Brier triumph for Gushue as a skip.

The final goes Sunday at 6 p.m. (All times Central).

“It’s just fun to be the only sheet out there playing great teams,” said Gushue, who shot a sparkling 93 per cent in the game. “I was excited to play today. I didn’t care what the result was, I just wanted to go out there and enjoy it.”

Gushue was pleased he got the short route to the final.

“We’re not young so getting there efficiently is important,” he said. “We went that route before. It’s a challenge to play the semifinal and turn around and play the final. Last year when we got right to the final you can prepare, you can get a good night’s sleep.”

Gushue’s philosophy in curling is simple: it’s never as bad as it seems and it’s really never as good, either. So when he lost two early games in the round-robin of his nine-team pool, he knew he had time to recover.

So he hitched up his pants and got to work, with the help of his crew members, vice-skip Mark Nichols, second E.J. Harnden, lead Geoff Walker, and coach Caleb Flaxey. They won five games in a row to place second in their pool, and two more in the playoffs. Now they’re one step away from another crown.

Team Canada has another philosophy: get the jump early. And it did, scoring two with the hammer in the first end, making the Calgary-based Team Alberta-Bottcher chase.

It was, as expected, a well-curled game, but ultimately came down to the eighth end when Bottcher had a chance to take a 6-5 lead if he could manage an angle-raise double takeout for three. He missed by a whisker and gave up a back-breaking steal of one.

It was all over in the next end when Bottcher couldn’t connect on a difficult triple takeout.

Bottcher, backed up by vice-skip Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant, lead Ben Hebert and coach Paul Webster, agreed the eighth end was a killer.

“Absolutely,” he said. “We all know the stats out there and the eighth end is pretty critical when you’re down a couple. Played a tough shot for two and really just missed it by a sliver.”

The Albertans must now deal with Team Saskatchewan out of the Saskatoon Nutana Club, skipped by Mike McEwen, that will have the full-throated support of the Brandt Centre crowd on its side in Sunday’s noon semifinal.

McEwen earned that spot earlier in the day by virtue of a narrow 6-5 victory over skip Matt Dunstone’s Team Manitoba-Dunstone (Winnipeg) in the Page 3-4 playoff.

A Team Saskatchewan versus Team Canada final would be a dream come true for curling fans in the province who are clamouring for the first Montana’s Brier win since Saskatoon’s Rick Folk prevailed in 1980. 

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2024 Montana’s Brier are available at www.curling.ca/scoreboard/

TSN and RDS will provide complete coverage of the 2024 Montana’s Brier. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule. Live coverage is also available for international streaming on TSN’s YouTube channel.

This story will be available in French as soon as possible at https://www.curling.ca/?lang=fr