Three for four: Gushue leads shorthanded team to fourth Brier title

Brad Gushue spoiled Kevin Koe’s bid for history Sunday while making some of his own.

Gushue’s Wild Card #1 team beat Koe’s Alberta champions 9-8 in an extra end in the Tim Hortons Brier final in Lethbridge, giving Gushue his fourth Canadian men’s curling championship as a skip.

That ties the record shared by Koe, Ernie Richardson, Randy Ferbey and Kevin Martin. Koe was looking to move into sole possession of first place on that list; instead, the list grew by one.

Gushue’s victory also was the first by a Wild Card entry in the revamped Brier format.

(Curling Canada/Twitter)

The team based in St. John’s, N.L., was playing with just three players after third Mark Nichols tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday.

That didn’t faze Gushue, Brett Gallant and Geoff Walker, who knocked off Saskatchewan’s Colton Flasch in the 3-4 Page playoff game Saturday afternoon, Team Canada’s Brendan Bottcher in the semifinal Sunday afternoon, and Koe’s squad in the final.

Gushue’s team previously won the Canadian title in 2017, 2018 and 2020. It now is to represent Canada in the world championship, which is set for April 2-10 in Las Vegas.

Koe opened the scoring Sunday with a deuce in the second end before Gushue scored three in the third. After a blank in the fourth, Koe scored two in the fifth end to take a 4-3 lead into the break.

Gushue put up another three in the sixth, but Koe responded with a deuce in the seventh to tie the score 6-6.

The Wild Card team scored one in the eighth and then stole one in the ninth to take an 8-6 lead coming home. But Koe calmly made a takeout for two in the 10th, sending the contest to the extra end.

There, the Gushue team kept things open, allowing the veteran skip to make a quiet takeout with his final rock to seal the outcome.