 Brad Gushue of St. John's was delayed in getting to Lloydminster on Thursday, having their first game bumped back leaving them an early back-to-back. (Photo: Stan Fong, Hardline Curling) Gushue with Mark Nichols at third, E.J. Harnden and Geoff Walker on the front end opened with a 7-3 win over Anton Hood of New Zealand playing at 4 pm Mountain Time, returning immediately to the ice in their heavyweight battle against Winnipeg's Matt Dunstone. Gushue started with hammer, scoring a single point to open scoring, then kept scoring with steals in the second, third and fourth ends to lead 4-0 at the halfway point. Dunstone got on the board with 2 points in the fifth end, but it was not enough as Gushue got 3 more in the sixth end to finish of a 7-2 win. Gushue and Dunstone came into the weekend ranked 7th and 8th on the WCF World Team Rankings, sitting lower than fans might expect for the two Canadian juggernauts. Both Gushue and Dunstone have played 7 events so far this season, the same number as the current event count for the rankings. Whilte both teams have great records, each with 28 wins on the season now with Gushue having lost 10 games and Dunstone having lost 11, they have also played a conservative schedule, meaning that events that wouldn't normally count as part of their rankings do right now and it's left both teams down the rankings table. Most teams ahead of them have played eight or nine events, meaning they've all got room for an off week or two that doesn't count towards their ranking count, with Dunstone and Gushue each counting a non-playoff finish from the Slams. With teams playing this week in Lloydminster and next week's Co-op Canadian Open Grand Slam event in Red Deer, both teams have the ability to rush back up the rankings quickly. Gushue takes on Italy's Joel Retornaz in the A-event qualifier at 12:30 pm Mountain Time (4 pm Newfoundland Time) while Dunstone drops into a B-event death match against Calgary's Brendan Bottcher. Bottcher lost 6-2 to Aaron Sluchinski of Airdrie in the A-event semifinals. |
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Brendan Bottcher (photo: Stan Fong) is moving on from now former teammates Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert, announced Tuesday.
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