Skip to content

Gushue says peaking for playoffs paramount at men’s world curling championship

LAS VEGAS — A spot in the playoffs secured at the men’s world curling championship, Canada’s Brad Gushue says his team still has work to do to peak for them.
11335094_web1_180405-RDA-M-180406-RDA-gushue
Canada skip Brad Gushue calls to sweepers against China during the men’s world curling championships Thursday, April 5, 2018, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

LAS VEGAS — A spot in the playoffs secured at the men’s world curling championship, Canada’s Brad Gushue says his team still has work to do to peak for them.

The defending champion downed China’s Dejia Zou 7-4 on Thursday to be tied for second place with Scotland’s Bruce Mouat at 8-1. Sweden’s Niklas Edin topped the standings at 9-1.

The top six teams, instead of four, make playoffs under a new format this year. The top two get byes to Saturday’s semifinals while three to six square off in the quarterfinals earlier that day.

The medal games are Sunday.

Playoff berths assured for Canada, Sweden and Scotland, they’re now jockeying for a coveted top-two finish when the preliminary round concludes Friday.

The Swedes had the evening draw off Thursday, while the Canadians and Scots had games at night.

Gushue faced Greg Persinger of the U.S. (3-6) and clashes with Edin on Friday morning before wrapping up pool play against Germany in the final draw.

Mouat beat Gushue on the first day of the championship and would thus be ranked higher in the event of a tied record.

“First, we need a little bit of help at this point, but second certainly is in our grasp if we can win out,” Gushue said. “More importantly I just want to see us continually play a little bit better and get a little bit more sharp.”

The skip felt his team’s game isn’t quite where it needs to be heading into the home stretch.

“We’ve got to raise our level,” Gushue said. “It doesn’t feel like we’re far off. It feels a little off.

“We’re not playing up to the standard that we’ve kind of had over the last three or four years, but it certainly feels the teams we played against are playing well.”

Gushue, third Mark Nichols, second Brett Gallant and lead Geoff Walker from St. John’s, N.L., went undefeated to win the world title last year in Edmonton.

And while they’re well in contention to repeat in Las Vegas, they’ve yet to replicate the seemingly unshakable zone they were while winning a second straight Canadian championship in Regina last month.

Nichols, who leads all thirds in shooting percentage at 88, was uncharacteristically colder on takeouts versus China at 70 per cent accuracy.

Gushue also feels the opposition sees the Maple Leaf and ups their game accordingly.

Canada’s Kevin Koe had a similar opinion at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, where Canada was shut out of team curling medals.

“We’re not getting those big misses that you look across the ice and you see some,” Gushue said. “They don’t seem to be happening too much for us, which is fine. I certainly feel we can raise our level.”

“With us winning last year and in the fashion that we won, everybody knows they’re going to have to play well or feel like they have to play well to beat us.

“They probably come out a little more focused, a little more energized and they’re playing well.”

It was Sweden’s 10-2 thumping of China in Thursday morning’s draw — when Canada was idle — that actually clinched a playoff berth for Canada.

China made the Canadians work for their win. Zou stole a point in the seventh to even the score 4-4. Gushue’s hit for three in the eighth was pivotal.

After blanking the ninth end, Zou couldn’t generate three in the 10th to force an extra end.

Norway’s Steffen Walstad (6-4), Russia’s Alexey Timofeev and Switzerland’s Marc Pfister (5-4), South Korea’s ChangMin Kim (5-5), as well as the U.S. and Jaap Van Dorp of the Netherlands (3-6) were in the hunt for the last three playoff berths.

China’s Zou, Italy’s Joel Retornaz and Japan’s Go Aoki were fading from the playoff picture at 3-7, while Germany’s Alexander Baumann was out at 1-9.