(by Dave Stewart)

Charlottetown’s Brett Gallant says curling in the Olympic Games is unlike anything he has ever experienced, even if it didn’t end the way his team wanted it to.

Gallant and the Brad Gushue-skipped Canadian team returned to St. John’s, N.L., from Beijing, China, on Feb. 20 with bronze medals in hand.

“Obviously, there was some disappointment because we did have our sights set on being in that gold-medal game, but I think we can look back on it as a really great experience,’’ said Gallant, referring to the 5-3 loss to Sweden, the eventual gold-medal winner, in the semifinal on Feb. 17.

“But, coming home with a medal for Canada means a lot to us. We didn’t have our best stuff over there.’’

Charlottetown’s Brett Gallant, who throws second stones for the Brad Gushue curling team, displays his bronze medal from the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games. – Contributed

Gushue was down one with his final shot in the semifinal and attempted a runback double for the win instead of a draw to send it to an extra end.

Gushue just missed, allowing Sweden’s Niklas Edin a steal and the win.

Gallant said the team is going to rest for a few days before preparations begin for the Brier. The Gushue rink was named as one of three wild-card entries.

Gallant admitted getting psyched up for the Canadian championship is going to be challenging.

“I’ll be honest, it is definitely going to be difficult,’’ Gallant said. “But, I think we’ve shown in the past we can get up for stuff like that. Will it be easy? No.’’

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