Brad Gushue (with PEI native Brett Gallant) downs Murdoch in Tour Challenge Draw 5 (GSOC)

(by Jonathan Brazeau)

PARADISE, N.L. — Local favourite Brad Gushue of St. John’s sent the crowd home happy with a 7-3 victory in six ends over Scotland’s David Murdoch during a sold-out Draw 5 Wednesday night at the Tour Challenge.

Brad Gushue at the 2015 Tour Challenge in Paradise, N.L. (Photo: Anil Mungal)

Gushue bounced back from an opening draw loss to Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers by scoring deuces in the first and third ends and added a three-ender in the fifth that had the crowd roaring all night. Murdoch was held to three singles and shook hands early.

“It was awesome,” said Mark Nichols, third for Team Gushue. “It was a better result than last night and actually gave the crowd something to cheer about.”

Both rinks now hold 1-1 records in the round robin of the opening event on the 2015-16 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season.


Tour Challenge: Digital Program | Live Scoring | Draw Schedule | TV Schedule | Watch Online


Elsewhere, Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen managed to grab two points in the final end to edge out Toronto’s John Epping 6-5. McEwen climbed to a 2-0 record after also squeaking past Peter de Cruz of Switzerland 3-2 earlier Wednesday. Epping’s record is even at 1-1.

Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock got a point in the eighth to hold off Sven Michel of Switzerland for a 7-6 victory. Laycock improved to a 1-1 record while Michel fell to 0-2.

In the women’s division, Silvana Tirinzoni took down reigning world champion Alina Paetz 7-1 in six ends during an all-Swiss rink match. Tirinzoni led 2-1 through three and padded her lead with a three-ender in four followed by single steals in the fifth and sixth ends. Both teams now hold 1-1 records.

Sherry Middaugh, of Coldwater, Ont., broke a 1-1 tie with a deuce in the sixth followed by a steal of one in the seventh to win 4-1 over Moscow’s Anna Sidorova. Middaugh is 2-0 in the round robin while Sidorova is 0-2.

NOTES: The Tour Challenge is the first of two new tournaments on the expanded seven-event 2015-16 Pinty’s GSOC season and features 30 men’s and 30 women’s teams split into two tiers. … Winners of the Tier 1 divisions also receive berths to the second new Pinty’s GSOC event, the season-ending Champions Cup. … Tier 2 champions earn byes to the next Grand Slam, the Masters, running Oct. 27 to Nov. 1 in Truro, N.S. … Television coverage of the Tour Challenge starts Thursday at noon AT / 8 a.m. PT on Sportsnet.

Click to read at Grand Slam website

Comments are closed.