(Photo by Emily Rogers)
Canada’s Team Brad Gushue had a perfect run at the 2024 Pan Continental Curling Championships.
Thursday (Oct. 31) morning, the team earned a 7-4 victory against China’s Team Xiaoming Xu during round-robin at the Gary Moe Auto Group Sportsplex.
Team Gushue started the first end with a hammer, scored a deuce on an open hit and capitalized on back-to-back steals in the second-and-third end.
In the second end, Team Xu attempted a short runback double but jammed a Canadian counter in the four-foot and gave up another two after missing a hit in the third. After blanking in the fourth, China scored two in the fifth.
"We've got to get a little bit more solid. I think we're playing well, just not great. We're just a few loose shots here and there, and I don't think I've got a full grasp of the ice either, and maybe no skip does, to be quite honest," Skip Gushue said. "But I'd like to get a bit more confident where I'm putting the broom, and I think if I could do that - because I like how we're throwing it - then we should be in a position to make a lot of shots."
Related stories:
- Gushue, Homan look to remain undefeated in round-robin play
- Gushue earns playoff birth at Pan Continental Curling Championships, Homan on the verge
Gushue, vice-skip Mark Nichols, second Brendan Bottcher, lead Geoff Walker, alternate Adam Casey, coach Jeff Hoffart, and national coach Jeff Stoughton knew they had a top seed in the semifinals win or lose.
It was the type of game that allowed the team to comfortably tune-up for Canada's upcoming playoff appearance, which begins tonight at 7 p.m. against Team Shinya Abe of Japan.
"The biggest thing is just to keep the momentum going. You don't want to fall into bad habits and take any game or shot lightly. You want to keep doing your thing and keep building on getting better and better," said Walker. "The ice is tricky, but we've been doing a pretty good job of reading it and knowing where one might run a little bit more, and one might curl a little bit more. We've been doing a good job, and we just need to keep that up."
Team Gushue is hopeful to extend their streak to three straight gold medals at the Pan Continental Curling Championships.
In the women's competition, Canada's Team Rachel Homan will play Japan's Team Miyu Ueno today (Oct. 31) at 2 p.m.
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