 Brad Gushue (Photo: Curling Canada) continues to prove why he is a six-time Canadian men's champion. By: Cameron Sallaj Entering the 2025 Montana's Brier on a low note after an 0-4 performance at the last Slam, the defending Canadian champions Team Brad Gushue are off to a strong start in Kelowna, taking down BC's Cameron de Jong for two straight wins to begin the event. After winning the pre-game draw to the button, Team Canada blanked the opening end before getting on the board with a single in two. BC then blanked the third before giving up a steal in the four. The Victoria rink then got one back in the fifth to cut into the lead. Coming back in six, Gushue and teammates Mark Nichols, Brendan Bottcher and Geoff Walker extended their lead with a count of two, going ahead 4-1. Not to be outdone, de Jong posted a deuce in the seventh end to keep things close. In eight, British Columbia forced Canada to a single, making the game 5-3. Then in nine, a poor setup by Walker and Bottcher allowed the west coasters to sit three buried stones halfway through the end. Proving why they are not to be counted out, Nichols and Gushue each executed double takeouts to shut down any opportunity for multiple points for BC with the end resulting in a blank. With no shot for two in the tenth, de Jong was forced to concede with Gushue taking the 5-3 win. Since their winless outing at the Masters Slam in Guelph, the Gushue rink have turned things around, shooting a strong 91% across their first two games. In Draw 1, the team beat fellow Newfoundland's Ty Dilello 9-2. In their next game, Team Canada go against Northern Ontario's John Epping at 1:30 PM PT on Sunday and then face Manitoba's Reid Carruthers Monday at 6:30 PM PT. In the middle of the week, the team goes against New Brunswick's James Grattan, Alberta's Kevin Koe and Nunavut's Shane Latimer before closing out Thursday afternoon in a highly anticipated battle against Manitoba's Matt Dunstone, a team which includes former second E. J. Harnden. In other Draw 3 games, all teams that won in the first draw maintained an undefeated record to join Gushue atop the pool. Northern Ontario (Epping) topped Alberta (Koe) 9-5, Manitoba (Dunstone) downed Nunavut (Latimer) 13-2 and Manitoba (Carruthers) crushed Newfoundland and Labrador (Dilello) 14-2. The next draw from the 2025 Montana's Brier begins at 8:30 AM Pacific Time with Pool B action. The featured match sees first game winners Nova Scotia (Purcell) and Saskatchewan (McEwen) meet with the winner taking early advantage of the pool. |
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Manitoba's Matt Dunstone (Photo: Grand Slam of Curling) defeated Norway's Magnus Ramsfjell 6-3 to move to a 2-0 record at the AMJ Masters in London, Ontario.
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