(by Jonathan Brazeau)
SHERWOOD PARK, Alta. — Recent Players’ Championship winner Brad Gushue picked up where he left off in the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling series.
Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., kicked off the inaugural Humpty’s Champions Cup with a 7-6 victory over Scotland’s Bruce Mouat on Tuesday night to extend his series winning streak to 15 games.
Things were a bit dicey in the third end. Tied 1-1 after two, Gushue nearly broke the game open early looking for a four-ender but missed on his last and instead raised Mouat’s stones as the game swung to a 2-1 advantage for the reigning world junior champion.
“It was a bit of a battle,” Gushue said. “We got off to a good start with a steal in the first end and had a shot for four in the third. I feathered the guard and actually raised them into the button to give them one so that kind of made the game a lot closer than it could have been if I make that shot.”
A deuce in four gave Gushue a 3-2 lead and Mouat knotted it up with a single in five.
Gushue finally got his four-ender in the sixth to put a hold on the game up 7-3. Mouat took two in the seventh and sat another pair in eight, but Gushue held the hammer coming home and knocked out one to concede a point but hold on for the W.
“They played pretty well and in the sixth end we got a couple misses out of them and got a big four end there and that was kind of the end of the game,” Gushue said. “We had a four-point lead at that point, which is usually enough for us with two ends to go and we played the last two ends pretty solid and came out with a win.
“It’s nice, a nice crowd, the ice was great, so it was a good start.”
Teams had to win a high-profile event over the course of the season in order to qualify for the Humpty’s Champions Cup and Gushue believes it’s great to see teams that normally wouldn’t make it into a Pinty’s GSOC event based strictly on order of merit points.
“I think getting some new people an opportunity here to play on great ice and in front of a great crowd and eventually on TV as we get closer to the weekend is good,” he said. “It could be an opportunity for guys like these or any other team like Mick Lizmore or some of the teams people probably haven’t heard of as much. They have a good week here and get some points and it could help them get into the Slams next year. It’s an opportunity for a stepping stone for them.
“I know for us when we first started playing in them we got to the final of the Players’ back in 2005 and that was kind of our stepping stone. That got us enough points to get in and once we got in we were able to stay in.”
Gushue entered the event having won the past two Pinty’s GSOC events running the table at the Elite 10 and the Players’ Championship. The team of Gushue, third Mark Nichols, second Brett Gallant, and lead Geoff Walker have also captured the Rogers Grand Slam Cup as the overall season champions.
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Elsewhere, reigning world champ Kevin Koe of Calgary scored an 8-3 victory over Edmonton’s Mick Lizmore. Koe counted three in the first, took two in the fourth and added another trey in six to bring out the early handshakes. Lizmore scored a deuce in the second and was held to a single in five.
In the women’s division, reigning Scotties champ Chelsea Carey of Calgary prevailed 5-4 over Edmonton’s Kelsey Rocque. Carey snapped a 2-2 tie counting three in the sixth.
Rocque looked to close the gap in seven but her last came up short and Carey gave up just one more in the eighth to secure the victory.
Ottawa’s Rachel Homan, the Rogers Grand Slam Cup women’s champion, picked up a single in the eighth to edge Edmonton’s Val Sweeting 5-4.
NOTES: The Humpty’s Champions Cup is the seventh and final event of the 2015-16 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season and runs through to Sunday at the Sherwood Park Arena Sports Centre. … TV coverage begins Thursday on Sportsnet. … The event is the second of two new tournaments added to the schedule this year along with the Tour Challenge, which opened the season in September. … The Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling returns for the 2016-17 season starting with the Masters, Oct. 25-30, in Okotoks, Alta.