HALIFAX — Brad Gushue was crouched down on the ice at the Scotiabank Centre with his head in his hands, not long after the veteran skipper from Newfoundland had let his final rock fly on Wednesday night at Canada’s Olympic trials.
The takeout for three in a must-win round robin finale was there, the moment was there for the late-game heroics to stay alive and earn a playoff berth, and Gushue missed it.
“Just had to hit probably two thirds, three quarters of it, and couldn’t yell loud enough,” a disappointed Gushue said following his team’s 6-3 loss to Brad Jacobs, following that last rock he’d thrown that hadn’t curled enough. “I tried to get them to sweep most of the way down the sheet and we just missed the line call.”
And so Gushue, who won Olympic gold for Canada in 2006 and bronze four years ago, just missed a chance to stay alive in a bid to return to the biggest stage in his sport, for a shot at a berth to Milano Cortina 2026.
The Gushue loss had major implications that turned the night on its head in dramatic fashion. Earlier in the day, Jacobs had qualified to earn the berth directly to the trials final, but minutes before Gushue let that last shot fly, world No. 2 Matt Dunstone had suffered his third straight loss. The skipper then had to rely on losses from Gushue and Kevin Koe to crack the semifinal.
It was Dunstone who lost first. And almost immediately after Mike McEwen’s Saskatchewan rink shellacked Dunstone to the tune of 9-5 to earn themselves a spot in the semifinal, Dunstone threw his water bottle on the ground in frustration before he met the media, which he wanted to get out of the way even before the Gushue-Jacobs game was over, even before he knew his team’s fate.
“It’s obviously very difficult, trying to wrap my head around it all,” an emotional Dunstone said. “We’re playing the waiting game right now, because we might be able to back-door this sucker somehow.”
Somehow, that’s exactly what happened: They backdoored this sucker. As he waited, Dunstone ate a chocolate donut. He watched some of the Jacobs-Gushue game on TV. And then he got the two results he needed and just like that his team of third Colton Lott and the Harnden brothers, E.J. at second and Ryan at lead, were alive again, and into Thursday’s semifinals for a rematch against McEwen.
Team Dunstone came in as “the favourite,” which was pointed out by McEwen, after he recorded a huge win over Dunstone that took just eight ends.
Dunstone had come in here as the top men’s team in Canada after making all three Grand Slam finals this season.
The Winnipeg foursome also won four straight to open the trials, and Team Dunstone was the only undefeated squad in the men’s field after an extra-ends win over Gushue two nights ago. But losses to Koe and Jacobs left Dunstone in need of a win, or some major help, to make the playoffs. They didn’t get the win, but they got the major help.
Even in his disappointment, before he knew he got that help, Dunstone was able to reflect on what it would mean to stay alive for a chance to represent Canada at the Olympics.
“I mean, everything,” Dunstone said. “If it comes our way, I promise you’ll see the best version of Team Dunstone tomorrow.”
And so that’s the expectation for Thursday, as Dunstone and McEwen will meet in the semifinal for a rematch of the round robin finale, with the winner moving on to play Team Jacobs in a best-of-three final that opens Friday evening.
Jacobs, third Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant and lead Ben Hebert found out they were No. 1 in the field earlier Wednesday.
“We were at Cora’s, we just ordered breakfast and we got the notice that we were directly into the final, so that was neat,” Jacobs said, with a grin.
The veteran skipper from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. also pointed out that the round robin-finale did matter to them, because a win guaranteed them hammer in the final. And eliminating Gushue was also front of mind.
“They can be lethal,” Jacobs said. “He [Gushue] can be lethal. He’s been that way the majority of the last 10 years, a lot in his career. Any time you have the opportunity to eliminate a great team like that, you’ve got to take advantage of that opportunity.
“We played great tonight. I think this was our best day that we’ve had as a team in terms of performance and executing since we’ve been here. And that bodes well moving into the finals.”
As Jacobs was making his final comments to media, a straight-faced Gushue was awaiting his turn to speak following what will be his final Olympic trials. The 45-year-old has announced he’s retiring after this season.
“It was great until the last shot,” Gushue said of his team’s run at the trials, with a laugh, adding that he appreciated the fan reception his team got all week long. “We played pretty well. We had a chance to win this week.”
But it wasn’t to be for Gushue, third Mark Nichols, second Brendan Bottcher and lead Geoff Walker, who also lost earlier Wednesday to McEwen, making their round-robin finale against Jacobs a must-win.
“We obviously had a bad day today, losing to Mike and then losing to Brad, so we’re out,” said Gushue, the six-time Brier champion who plans to compete in his final national championship next year in his hometown of St. John’s.
“I would love to be playing tomorrow or Friday, but there’s a few better teams here this week that probably deserved it more than we did.”
Then Gushue went over to see his wife and two daughters, who were waiting for him at ice level. The skipper hugged his family, and his head was down for a good long while as they consoled him, not long after he threw what was his very last rock for a final shot at an Olympic berth.
