Legend is first to win five skip titles

Brad Gushue, the unofficial King of Newfoundland and Labrador, won his fifth Brier Tankard title as a skip, breaking him out of a logjam of legends—Ernie Richardson, Kevin Koe, Randy Ferbey and Kevin Martin—and up into a galaxy all his own.

It all went down at Budweiser Gardens in London, Ont., the site of two previous Canadian men’s curling championships: the first in 1974, and the second 12 years ago, in 2011.

Gushue won the Brier’s first-ever bronze medal match in 2011, defeating Martin, and it would take another six years for he and third Mark Nichols to climb the Brier summit for the first time, at home in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.

That’s also five titles for Nichols and lead Geoff Walker. New second E.J. Harnden captured his second crown, after winning his first with Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs in 2013.

Gushue set the high-water mark for Brier skips by defeating Team Manitoba, skipped by Matt Dunstone, 7-5 in the championship final.

“It never gets old, winning,” said Gushue, who had to draw the four-foot rings against two Manitoba stones for the victory.

Gushue stole a single in the 10th end the night before in the Page 1 versus 2 playoff against Manitoba, and knew his team would be in for another dogfight.

It was a battle of the two best teams and two best skips through the week. Teams Gushue and Dunstone won their respective pools and were deserving of being the last teams standing.

Unlike the previous day’s enthralling playoff match it was Team Canada that managed to dictate the action, putting consistent pressure on the Manitobans. After a blanked first end, the teams exchanged singles to make it 3-3 after seven ends.

The crack in the porcelain didn’t come until the eighth when Gushue put together a wonderfully constructed end, resulting in a huge three-count and a 6-3 lead.

Dunstone, playing in his fifth Brier but first for his home province, Manitoba, managed to score two in the ninth, and had two counters in the rings in the 10th, but Gushue had the hammer and used it to draw the four-foot.

“I trusted it, I made it,” said Gushue, who was voted the Hec Gervais Most Valuable Playoff Award for his performance in the playoffs.

“I was overthrowing them a little bit in that game and I was trying not to overthrow it, even with the adrenaline. So I threw it a little soft. It was just like ‘don’t pick, don’t pick’ and it stopped at the back of the button.”

Gushue gave credit to Dunstone and his teammates.

“It felt like any blink was going to lose that game,” he said. “We got them in the eighth end and just hung on. They played so strong. They’re an incredible team and they’re going to win this very soon.”

The loss was a huge disappointment for Dunstone and teammates B.J. Neufeld, Colton Lott, Ryan Harnden and coach Adam Kingsbury, who had played so brilliantly throughout the week. They fought hard to bring Manitoba back into the Brier winner’s circle for the first time since 2011 when Jeff Stoughton—who presented the Gervais award to Gushue—turned the trick, also in London.

“(I’m) really proud of my team. We were down and out after the eighth end and made them throw a tough shot to win the Brier,” said Dunstone.

Manitoba had advanced to the final earlier in the day by stealing a 7-5 semifinal victory over Calgary’s Wild Card entry, skipped by Brendan Bottcher.

Dunstone took a seat in the coach’s bench, directly behind the sheet of ice, to watch Bottcher’s final draw attempt for the win in the semi. Bottcher threw light while facing two Manitoba stones, however, and a relieved Dunstone embraced Kingsbury before returning to the ice for handshakes.

The championship match followed a roller coaster of enthralling playoff tilts, encompassing one of the best-regarded series of Brier games in recent memory.

Gushue and Team Canada will wear the Maple Leaf for the fourth time in seven years at the World Men’s Curling Championship in Ottawa next month (one was cancelled due to the pandemic). They will look to win Canada’s first gold medal since 2017 in Edmonton where Gushue stood atop the podium.

Given the latest Gushue hoopla, perhaps more people will look to correctly pronounce the skip’s name.

The 2023 Brier victory was the first for a Team Canada squad since Gushue won his second straight title in 2018.

The Kerri Einarson foursome won their fourth straight Canadian women’s title as Team Canada last month in Kamloops, B.C.

This was the final Tim Horton’s Brier, as the iconic championship seeks a new title sponsor.