Wednesday Brier wrapup, including Gushue’s “best ever” shot (Curling Canada, CurlingZone video)

(Curling Canada) In Brier action Wednesday night, Kevin Koe and his Alberta (Calgary) foursome took a 7-4 win over his brother Jamie that kept alive their playoff hopes.

Steve Laycock of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon) scored one in the 11th to get by Adam Casey of Prince Edward Island (Charlottetown) 7-6, Jeremy Mallais of New Brunswick (Saint John) stole three in the sixth to beat Mark Kean of Ontario (Fenelon Falls) 9-4 and Reid Carruthers of Manitoba (Winnipeg) made a great takeout through a very tight port to score three in the eighth and beat Jim Cotter of B.C.(Vernon) 8-3.

The results leave Northern Ontario at 9-0 (clinched a berth in the Page 1-2 playoff game), Newfoundland-Labrador at 7-2, Quebec and Team Canada at 6-3, Saskatchewan at 5-3, Manitoba and Alberta at 4-4, B.C. at 3-5, Ontario, P.E.I. and New Brunswick at 2-6 and Northwest Territories 0-8.

Click for more at the Curling Canada website.

Earlier on Wednesday, Brad Gushue nearly jumped out of his shoes after a spectacular final shot he called his best ever gave his Newfoundland-Labrador team a heart-stopping 8-7 victory over Alberta.

Newfoundland/Labrador skip Brad Gushue was jumping for joy after his winning shot against Alberta. (Photo, Curling Canada/Michael Burns)

Newfoundland/Labrador skip Brad Gushue was jumping for joy after his winning shot against Alberta. (Photo, Curling Canada/Michael Burns)

But what was the shot?

“I guess it was a double raise, double, around the horn backwards, something or other,” he laughed. “It was crazy. That’s the only shot we thought was there. I envisioned it the way it happened. It’s just the percentage of actually making it happen are so small, because not even a millimetre on the top rock and we miss it.”

The shot was a huge emotional lift for Gushue and teammates third Mark Nichols, second Brett Gallant, lead Geoff Walker and coach Ken Bagnell. It was an arrow through the heart of Kevin Koe and his Alberta team of third Marc Kennedy, second Brent Laing, lead Ben Hebert, alternate Jamie King and coach John Dunn.

“A tough one.” Koe said of the loss. “I didn’t think (the shot) was there. I thought we had it in the bag honestly. I don’t know how many times out of a 100 he makes that but unfortunately for us he did and that’s just kind of the way it’s been going, wrong side of the inch.”

Click for full story at the CCA website

Vine video (repeating) of Gushue shot courtesy of CurlingZone.com

Comments are closed.