Brad Gushue’s Last Brier Curling Stand

ST. JOHN’S, NL – It wasn’t supposed to end this way.

Alas, it did.

Brad Gushue’s Newfoundland and Labrador squad was defeated 7-5 by Team Canada’s Brad Jacobs in the Page 3 vs 4 playoff match at a packed Mary Brown’s Centre.

The ovations for the retiring skip and his teammates – longtime third Mark Nichols, newish second Brendan Bottcher and faithful lead Geoff Walker – were immense and heartfelt.

The crowd roared, cheered, pleaded and cried before, during and after the final stone. 

Here’s how the final Battle of the Brads – Gushue versus Jacobs – went down in St. John’s.

Gushue started with hammer. Venue capacity is 7,000 but the noise level during team introductions feels like a 100,000-seat stadium. Indoors.

Cowbells were handed out to fans as they entered the building but the crowd noise nearly drowns out the sound of their rattle. That’s no small feat.

In first end, Brad Gushue is forced to a draw to full four-foot against two Jacobs stones. If you closed your eyes and forgot it was only the first end, the cheer would suggest he won the game after placing it on the pin. Newfoundland and Labrador leads Canada 1-0.

End two. Bottcher is deep on his first draw attempt around staggered centre guards, sliding into the back eight-foot rings while a Jacobs stone sits shot stone on the top eight-foot. 

Jacobs considers opening up the front but instead calls Gallant for a come-around, and he lands top four buried. It’s the Brad from St. John’s who then chooses to peel his own centre guards. 

Eventually, Jacobs works to split the house with hit and rolls behind the tee line but fails to roll far enough on his first, and leaves Gushue a double on his last rock to escape the end. Queue eruption from the crowd and the first blank end.

End three. Three yellow stones belong to Canada in front of the rings and a long red centre guard. Bottcher comes around top four on his first and Gallant follows with a split to sit second and third. Nichols with a perfect hit and roll under centre. A hit and stick by Kennedy and then a hit and inside roll on Nichols’ last puts Jacobs in chase mode. A Kennedy angle raise removes one Gushue stone and lingers around at the back twelve-foot. 

Gushue decides to freeze to his shot stone, now sitting two. Canada sits third and fourth. Brad makes a soft weight hit and sits second, a few inches in front of Gushue shot stone, and his other counters are on each side of the twelve foot. Brad is unable to cross the face on his removal of the Jacobs stone and Canada has a possible long angle double to score three or four. Jacobs plays it with control weight and it curls too much, but Canada scores two points and leads 2-1, Gushue now with hammer.

End number four. After a double by Bottcher, Jacobs removes the lone corner guard, rolling into the rings and the result is an exchanging of stones and a more traditional blank end.

End five. Nearly staggered guards and Bottcher comes around sitting second, short of the four foot with Canada wide open at shot stone. Kennedy’s runback on the red guard jams and Gushue has options to draw or hit on Nicols’ first. Mark tries a split but he’s inside and heavy, sending his throw through the rings, giving Jacobs a chance to hit and sit three. 

Marc – with a “c” – makes a perfect hit and roll, forcing Gushue to peel the front on Nichols’ last. Jacobs places a guard and Gushue makes the runback double, clearing the middle of the house and rolling his shooter slightly off the centre line. Jacobs draws behind, sitting beside the the button, sitting two. 

Gushue calmly drops his final stone on the pin, as he did in the first end. The game is tied 2-2 and Jacobs holds hammer at the fifth end break.

End six. The end of the game, and perhaps the end note on Brad Gushue’s curling legacy. 

Two red centre guards belong to Gushue, and there is a yellow corner. After a series of draw-taps and rolls, and an angle tap-back on Nichols’ last, Kennedy faces this on his final shot. 

The big weight will finally remove a rock from play.

Four stones are gone after Marc’s shot but Gushue remains shot at the back four-foot.

Gushue is able to hit to sit three, with Jacobs having fourth stone at the top of the eight foot. 

Gushue fails to roll under on his hit, while Jacobs is successful in rolling under cover after removing the Gushue stone. Canada sits one just above the button while Gushue is second at the back four foot. It’s unclear who is fourth shot, between the Canada stone top eight and the Gushue rock at seven o’clock, also in the eight foot. 

Gushue attempts to draw frozen to his own stone but rubs the higher yellow and rolls into the open. The groans of the crowd are audible. Jacobs makes no mistake on the open double and, after a measurement, scores three points and takes a 5-2 lead.    

End seven. It appears to be a safe end for Jacobs, with only a single corner guard in play late, but a soft weight hit on Jacobs’ first stone fails to remove the Gushue stone tucked behind and it leads to a deuce: 5-4, Canada with hammer moving to the  eighth end. 

Fans can be seen counting fingers and mouthing quietly “force in eight, two in nine and a steal in 10.” Hope remains.

End eight. Two centres by Walker and two perfect stones by Ben Hebert sitting top four and top eight to begin the frame. Team Gushue contemplates their options on Nichols’ first stone and decide to attempt a runback. It’s critical to stick this and Mark does, perfectly. 

Kennedy hits and sticks and Nichols makes the hit and roll behind cover at the back of the button. Kennedy attempts to run the short guard back; the result is a jam-jam of red stones and Gushue sits one back of the pin, directly behind a Jacobs stone above, splitting the eight and twelve foot circles. 

Gushue places a centre guard just above the rings, slightly offset with the yellow Canada stone. Jacobs tries a soft weight and pushes the shot stone to the back eight and rolls out of play. Gushue makes the straight back to sit two and Jacobs elects to hit shot stone rather than draw full eight foot. 

He makes no mistake, sticking for his single. 6-4 for Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador with hammer heading to the ninth. 

End nine. Ben Hebert hogs his first stone amid a mix of cheers and mumbling from the anxious crowd. Gallant fails to split a free guard belonging to Gushue and the crowd applauds as it is put back into place. Brett peels the corner guard and it jams on a Gushue stone in the house, but remains in play. The rings are split with Newfoundland and Labrador sitting two and after a draw by Bottcher to the back twelve, three. 

Jacobs has Kennedy attempt a hit and roll, looking to set up a double (or two) and avoid a multiple score by the other Brad. Marc makes the roll under centre and Nichols makes a soft weight hit but in the process, removes their stone at the back of the rings. Kennedy hits the other Gushue stone and rolls to the centre, sliding just past the pin. 

Gushue calls for Nichols to draw down to the two stones (one from each team) on the button. Mark is light, his rock stopping in the top eight foot and the sound of the building is uncomfortable. 

Jacobs peels out the Gushue stone and Brad “G” is left with a double raise attempt. He is able to remove shot stone belonging to Canada but the Nichols rock squirts out of play and the promoted yellow sits shot for Jacobs. 

Brad “J” is a foot short on his draw leaving Gushue with an option to try a difficult double and blank. He instead elects to hit and stick for his single. Trailing 6-5 without hammer, Gushue has a steep hill to climb to keep his Brier hopes alive.

The 10th and final end.

Things look exactly like the eighth end after leads rocks. Gallant peels the top centre guard after Bottcher had placed a draw at the top of the rings. Brendan places another guard barely over the hogline, with frantic brushing giving fans flashbacks to yesterday’s tragic hogged NL stone. 

Brett removes it. Guard, peel. Nichols comes into the rings on his last and Jacobs attempts a peel-runback on the lone centre now in play, looking to clear out the house as much as possible. Attempts to make a five second hit “curl” are in vain and the guard is removed, but the stones in the house are untouched. 

Time out Gushue.

The skip plays a soft weight runback. Three red stones are at the top of the rings in front of the Jacobs stone at the corner of the four foot. Jacobs makes the triple takeout and Gushue is left with a hit and roll under. He makes it. 

Gushue waves his arms for the crowd to quiet down for Jacobs last shot. There’s no mistake by the Olympic champion and the Brad from the Soo, and his runback, knocks Gushue's stone and career out of the rings.  

An arena video was played as Gushue composed himself, and then he answered questions posed by TSN’s Bryan Mudryk.

A full 25 minutes after the final stone, not a soul had left the arena.