Gushue rink earns Olympic berth

Gushue rink earns Olympic berth

Last Updated: Mon Dec 12 16:07:00 EST 2005
CBC Sports

Brad Gushue celebrates his last shot of the men’s final at the Canadian Olympic curling trials. (CP Photo/Andrew Vaughn)

Kleibrink heading to Torino Olympics

Torino 2006

Brad Gushue made fellow curler Jeff Stoughton eat his words and can savour the moment until the Winter Games in February.

The St. John’s skip held off a late-charging Stoughton for an 8-7 win in Sunday’s men’s final at the Canadian Olympic curling trials in Halifax.

Gushue and teammates Mark Nichols, Jamie Korab, Russ Howard and alternate Mike Adam will compete at the Torino Games in Turin, Italy.

“This is incredible to share with them,” Gushue told CBC Sports prior to donning a Canadian team jacket before a crowd of 8,450 at the Halifax Metro Centre. “They played great all week. I’m very proud of them.”

Added Howard: “It feels awesome. I tell you I could swim to Italy right now.”

Calgary skip Shannon Kleibrink will represent Canada on the women’s side after edging Kelly Scott 8-7 on Saturday.

Stoughton, who failed in his third attempt at an Olympic berth, was quoted last month as saying Gushue’s Newfoundland and Labrador team had no chance of winning the trials.

But Gushue and company did just that and beat Stoughton twice along the way, scoring a 7-4 round-robin victory.

On Sunday, Gushue grabbed the momentum and stretched his lead to 7-4 in the seventh end.

But Stoughton, who missed a key shot in the sixth to fall behind 6-2, didn’t wilt.

The 42-year-old Winnipeg native scored two in the eighth end to cut Gushue’s lead to 7-6.

Trailing 8-6 in the ninth, Stoughton scored a single with his final draw but a second stone that would have tied the game was measured and found just outside the rings.

The 1996 world champion never led in the match as Gushue improved to 4-1 at this year’s trials when starting a game with the hammer.

After the teams exchanged deuces early on, Gushue caught a piece of the four-foot with his last rock of the third end to score two for a 4-2 advantage.

Helping Gushue along the way was Howard, the 13-time Brier representative and two-time world champion.

The 49-year-old was added to the team a few months back, a move that drew criticism. Could such a drastic change so close to a big event disrupt team chemistry?

“He’s fit into the team great and he’s become a real good friend,” Gushue said of Howard, who brought a steadying influence to the team throughout the week. “He’s a special player.”

Gushue, 25, also paid homage to Adam, who gave up his second spot.

“Mike is unbelievable. He’s the MVP of this team,” said Gushue, who won nine of 10 games this week.

“The sacrifice that he made this year and over the last number of months, and the way he handled it, was special. We wouldn’t be here without him.”

The Torino Olympics run from Feb. 10-26.