CBC.CA – Torino 2006 – Curling – Headlines – Gushue wins curling gold
Last Updated: Fri Feb 24 16:08:46 EST 2006
CBC Sports
Brad Gushue used steady play and one spectacular end to win Canada’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in men’s curling.
The 25-year-old skip and his St. John’s-based rink of third Mark Nichols, second Russ Howard and lead Jamie Korab scored six in the sixth end to propel themselves to a 10-4 win over Finland in eight ends in the gold medal game on Friday in Pinerolo, Italy.
Clinging to a 4-3 lead going into the sixth, Canada got a key takeout from Nichols, who executed a dazzling run-back with his first stone.
Nichols, who curled a brilliant 97 per cent, converted another solid takeout with his second stone, one of several clutch shots the Canadian third made in the game.
Canada then caught a break when Finnish skip Markku Uusipaavalniemi rubbed a guard with his final stone of the end, leaving Gushue a free draw for seven. Gushue sailed his stone through the house and had to settle for six, but the game was essentially over at that point.
“I knew when (Uusipaavalniemi) missed the last shot that it was over and I had trouble composing myself,” Gushue later told CBC Sports.
Immediately after the win, Gushue was handed a phone to speak to his mother, Maureen, who underwent chemotherapy a few weeks ago and was unable to travel to Italy.
A sobbing Gushue had trouble replying when asked what she had said.
“She’s proud and I’m proud of the guys,” he told CBC Sports.
The win gave Canada its second-ever Olympic curling gold medal. The women’s team led by the late Sandra Schmirler finished first at the 1998 Nagano Games, where curling became an official medal sport.
It was also the second medal for Canadian curlers at the Torino Games. On Thursday, Shannon Kleibrink’s Calgary rink captured bronze in women’s curling with a convincing 11-5 victory over Norway’s Dordi Nordby, also in eight ends.
Team Gushue’s win brought Canada’s best-ever medal count at the Torino Olympics to 20, including six gold.
Gushue, Nichols and Korab became the first Newfoundlanders to win a medal at the Winter Olympics since Dwayne Norris of St. John’s won silver with Canada’s men’s hockey team at the 1994 Lillehammer Games.
Howard was born in Midland, Ont., and now resides in Moncton, N.B.
The team received plenty of support from Newfoundlanders, including thousands of school kids who were given the afternoon off by Newfoundland and Labrador Education Minister Joan Burke.
She called Friday’s match a historic moment for Newfoundland and Labrador.
Offices closed early across the province and a crowd of about 6,000 was expected to gather at Mile One Stadium in St. John’s to watch the final.
After the game, Gushue expressed his appreciation for the well-wishers in his home province.
“I just want to say thanks,” he told CBC Sports. “I love you all.”
The 50-year-old Howard, who threw second stones and called shots for Gushue, praised his young teammates from Newfoundland, none of whom are over 26.
“What a thrill, it’s unbelievable,” Howard told CBC Sports. “When we first started, I thought, ‘Oh my God, am I babysitting? Are the guys going to accept me?’ These guys just curl so well and they’ve got such a good attitude, it’s infectious. . . . It was just a pleasure to be with them.”
Howard, a two-time world champion skip, called it the greatest moment of his career.
“Number one by a mile, baby,” he said. “Absolutely.”
Howard joined the team prior to the Canadian curling trials when erstwhile second Mike Adam, who served as alternate at the Olympics, graciously stepped aside to make room.
“Mike has put his heart and soul into this team, but he realized that our chances of winning were better with Russ than without,” Gushue told CBC Sports Online before the Games. “Having a teammate like that means a lot and it made the decision a lot easier that he handled it that well.”
The gold medal game opened with Finland and Canada trading two-point ends.
Uusipaavalniemi, who had last-rock advantage in the first, made a take-out to score two, though he was trying for three. Gushue evened the game in the second by drawing to the four-foot for two.
Gushue went up 4-2 with steals in the next two ends.
With Canada lying four in the third, Uusipaavalniemi attempted a delicate angled tap-back put couldn’t bump his stone close enough to the button, giving Gushue a steal of one. Uusipaavalniemi then missed on a draw attempt to close the fourth, handing another point to Gushue.
Uusipaavalniemi got one back in the fifth, converting a tricky takeout by scraping his first rock past a Canadian guard to knock out Canada’s shot stone on the eight-foot. Uusipaavalniemi then had a chance to count two but came up short on a draw, leaving Gushue with a 4-3 lead after five.
After Canada all but wrapped up the game with its six-point sixth end, Finland blanked the seventh. The Finns picked up one to make the score 10-4 before conceding after the eighth, the earliest an Olympic game can be called.
Steady shotmaking at the top (Korab and Howard curled 88 and 75 per cent, respectively) allowed the Canadians to execute the aggressive strategy they planned to counter Uusipaavalniemi’s strong takeout skills.
With the house often littered with rocks, Uusipaavalniemi struggled to play a finesse game. He curled 50 per cent on his draws, compared to 75 per cent on takeouts.
Copyright © CBC 2006
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