(CCA) Brad Gushue’s Newfoundland/Labrador contender rallied to further tighten up the Tim Hortons Brier race Thursday morning.
Photo: Michael Burns Photography
Gushue, directing Mark Nichols, Ryan Fry and Jamie Danbrook, took advantage of a monstrous miscue from Jeff Stoughton in the eighth end of their Draw-13 hookup and rolled to an 8-5 victory which left three teams snarled with 8-and-2 records and idle Alberta one-half-game back at 7-and-2.
“It was a tight one, looking dicey for most of the game,” said Gushue who proceeded to pay tribute to his sweepers Nichols and Danbrook who managed to turn three of Gushue’s shots from near-misses to just-made-its.
“Those three shots were the only rocks I didn’t really throw real good and they made them all. Those two guys swept their hearts out. I’ve never seen two guys so out of breath. They did a great job for me today.”
“I think our fate is in our own hands tonight,” said Gushue, who plays Quebec’s Francois Gagne in his last outing. “We win and I think we’re assured of a spot in the Page One-Two game.”
Manitoba, meanwhile, also plays Quebec in a preliminary-ending match earlier today at 3:30 AT.
Manitoba hit for three in the third end and controlled the issue through to the eighth when Stoughton’s last attempted double-kill double-jammed on backing and left his foe the free draw for the go-ahead trio.
“That was a (bleepin’) bonehead shot,” admitted Stoughton. “I mean, I wish everyone had been a little more adamant that we could double-jam. I never thought we could. If someone had said we could I never would have thrown that shot. It was the dumbest shot in the, er, a junior-B group piece of crap. It was a stupid shot and gave them an easy three. I guess I threw it too good because it hit the perfect spot . . . for them.”
Elsewhere, Ontario’s Glenn Howard matched the records the Newfs and ‘Tobans with a 9-2 romp over Jamie Koe’s Territories entry.
“It was a huge game. We needed that win. It guaranteed us a playoff spot. Now we can go further if we can win tonight.”
Ontario takes on Alberta’s Olympic gold-medal winners as the round-robin closing feature at 8:30 AT. Alberta plays the Territories at 3:30.
“It’s a massive game tonight,” said Howard. “If we win we’ll be in the One-Two playoff and if we lose we’ll probably be in the Three-Four. You have an extra life in the One-Two. Everybody knows I hate the whole format and they’ve made it even worse now with this bronze-medal game. But, yeah, the Three-Four means a couple of extra games on your last life. So this is obviously a big one.
“Kevin has had us every Brier for three years (record is 6-and-0, Alberta) and I think its our In ther Thursday-morning tussles, James Grattan of New Brunswick registered his fourth win in 10 starts with a 6-4 decision over fading Steve Laycock (4-6) of Saskatchewan while British Columbia’s Jim Cotter also won his fourth in 10 games with a breezy 7-1 romp over outclassed Eddie MacKenzie (1-9) of Prince Edward Island.
P.E.I. closes out its schedule against Shawn Adams of Nova Scotia.