Brier skip record now in reach

If you’re a Manitoba/Matt Dunstone curling fan, you feel ripped off.

If you’re a Canada/Brad Gushue curling fan, you might still be celebrating.

The Page 1 vs 2 playoff between the top two teams at the third London Brier was all that it promised. Brilliant shotmaking was on display, and not even three straight blank ends (in seven, eight and nine) could disperse the drama at the Budweiser Centre.

In the end, it was a not-quite-so-simple board weight hit and stick that went slightly awry for the Manitobans, and Team Gushue had escaped with a 5-4 victory.

Tied 4-4 and without the hammer, Gushue left Dunstone a nose hit on his own stone in the four-foot with no room for error. Dunstone missed it by a whisker, striking the shot stone but rolling ever so slightly, a half-rock.

Dunstone lead Ryan Harnden attempted to “knife” the stone using directional sweeping to force it to curl that needed quarter-inch, but to no avail.

Gushue’s approach in facing the previously unbeaten (9-0) Dunstone might have been to keep calm, avoid getting run over, and wait for an opportunity.

The opportunity only came in the dramatic 10th end, and the win thrust Team Canada into Sunday’s final, just one win away from their captain’s record fifth Brier title as a skip.

“What a game, holy smokes,” said Gushue. “Some of the shots Matt’s team made and some of the shots our team made were incredible. We left Matt with a really difficult shot, he couldn’t roll anywhere. I knew he had to hit it perfectly on the nose. Got a little bit of a roll. The anxiety from the whole game let loose after the game.”

The loss dropped Manitoba into the semifinal Sunday afternoon against Calgary skip Brendan Bottcher and his Wild Card outfit.

“I felt we controlled the entire thing,” said Dunstone. “Unfortunately I didn’t make the last one there. I didn’t think there was really a draw there. I liked how I threw it, came up a bit heavy, missed it by an inch.”

Dunstone made several spectacular shots in the game, including a runback raise in the third that not only saved the end, but put two up on the board and gave Manitoba a 3-1 lead.

But Gushue would answer. He made a ridiculously tough triple takeout in the seventh to save the end with the score tied 4-4.

“They were so good at those runbacks,” said Gushue. “It was frustrating because we couldn’t put any rocks in play and generate any offence. If we gave them any kind of angle they executed it. We just hung tough. Fortunately, we got a miss from them at the end.”

The game also featured the battle of brothers, E.J. and Ryan Harnden who, after years of playing together with Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs, were on opposite sides of the fence Saturday.

“It was hard,” said E.J. who showed emotion following the win. “I hope we play tomorrow and we win tomorrow, but it’s not fun. I love being part of this team, but he’s my brother.”

Bottcher had defeated Ontario’s Mike McEwen’s 6-3 earlier in the day in the 3-4 Page playoff, sending the Toronto team to the sidelines.

“I thought we played a great game,” said Bottcher. “Hopefully we’ll have a couple of good games (Sunday) and we’ll see how we do.”

“We played a great game,” said McEwen. “But they put on a hitting clinic. Not too often you see a team convert that many runs and doubles. We weren’t far from hanging in there. I had one little tick on a chaser and that runner (in the seventh) goes a little different and it’s a tie game.

“I’m proud of us. We let it all hang out there and played well. Nothing to be ashamed about.”

It was a thrilling week for the Ontario side, which recovered from a slow 2-2 start, then rattled off five straight victories, two of which mirrored Houdini-type escapes.

This is the 18th and final Canadian men’s curling championship to be sponsored by Tim Hortons, which announced its departure from the top event sponsorship tier earlier in the season. 

There have only been four Brier title sponsors dating back to 1927, with the first three being MacDonald Tobacco, Labatt Breweries and Nokia.