Canada’s Gushue books Brier final spot, sending Alberta’s Bottcher to the semifinal

Bottcher will now take on Saskatchewan’s Mike McEwen in the semifinal on Sunday

Published Mar 09, 2024 • Last updated 10 hours ago • 3 minute read

Canada skip Brad Gushue watches his team on the ice at the 2024 Montana’s Brier inside the Brandt Centre. Photo by KAYLE NEIS /Regina Leader-Post

Brad Gushue and Team Canada have booked a direct ticket to the championship game at the 2024 Montana’s Brier.

In the Page 1-2 playoff game at the Canadian men’s curling championship on Saturday night in Regina, Gushue beat Brendan Bottcher and Team Alberta 7-3 in front of the largest crowd of the week with 5,637 spectators at the Brandt Centre.

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Bottcher will now face Mike McEwen and Team Saskatchewan in the semifinal on Sunday at noon, after McEwen beat Manitoba’s Matt Dunstone 6-5 in the Page 3-4 playoff game earlier on Saturday.

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The winner of the semifinal will advance to the final on Sunday at 6 p.m., while the loser will finish in third place.

After entering the Brier as the No. 1 ranked team in the field, the 32-year-old Bottcher and his Alberta squad put together a 6-2 round robin record to finish second place in Pool A. They were then able to beat McEwen and Saskatchewan 9-7 in the Page 1-2 qualifier to advance to Saturday’s Page 1-2 playoff game.

Gushue and company had a similar route, as they entered the Brier as the No. 2 ranked team, before putting together a 6-2 record in Pool B. Gushue then beat Pool A No. 1 seed Reid Carruthers and his Manitoba rink in the Page 1-2 qualifier to earn a spot in Saturday’s Page 1-2 playoff game.

The 43-year-old Gushue, the two-time defending champion from Newfoundland, is already the winningest skip in Brier history with five titles. Bottcher, meanwhile, won his first Brier in 2021 and has finished in third place for the past two years. He was a silver medalist in 2018, 2019 and 2020.

The winner of this year’s Brier will represent Canada at the 2024 World Men’s Curling Championship, which is set to get underway March 30 in Switzerland.

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The winners will also be back as Team Canada at next year’s Brier in Kelowna, B.C. with the winner there earning the right to wear the maple leaf in Moose Jaw at the 2025 world championship.

Game summary

Canada (Gushue) 7, Alberta (Bottcher) 3

After earning hammer to start the game, Gushue opened the scoring in the first end with a delicate takeout to score two.

In the second, Bottcher tied the game 2-2 with an open hit-and-stick for a deuce.

After a blank in the third end, the back-and-forth game continued as Gushue scored a deuce on another open hit-and-stick to go up 4-2.

Following another blank end in the fifth, Gushue put the pressure on in the sixth after making a thin takeout to sit three with his first. Bottcher drew behind cover to sit shot rock with his first before Gushue took that rock out to sit four. That forced Bottcher to draw for the single to make it 4-3.

Bottcher held Gushue to a single point in the seventh to make it 5-3 before Bottcher missed a double takeout with his last in the eighth, allowing a steal of one as Canada went up 6-3.

In the ninth with Canada sitting two, Bottcher missed a raise on his first before Gushue took out Alberta’s only rock in the house to sit three. Bottcher was left with a triple takeout attempt and while he made two go away, Canada stole another single point to win 7-3 as Alberta conceded the final end.