Brad Gushue is 3-0 and into the playoffs.
It’s back on the ice for Canadian mixed doubles king Brett Gallant—with his men’s fours foursome.
Days after capturing the mixed doubles Olympic Trials in Liverpool with his wife Jocelyn Peterman, Gallant is battling in the B-side with Team Brad Jacobs at the Astec Safety Challenge tour stop in Lloydminster, Alta.
Team Jacobs were first-game winners over fellow Albertan James Balance before they took a 6-5 extra-end loss to Scotland’s Ross Whyte, an eventual B-side qualifier.
The Jacobs gang then scored two wins before losing a critical B-qualifier to Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller.
That dropped them into the C-side of the triple-knockout competition, where they’ve scored a win over Black Diamond’s Jacob Libbus and face two additional must-win games just to make the quarterfinals.
Scotland’s Bruce Mouat is 3-0 and into the quarterfinals, after wins over Edmonton’s Scott Manners, Switzerland’s Marco Hoesli and Saskatchewan’s Mike McEwen, who went on to qualify through the B-side.
So is Winnipeg’s Matt Dunstone, after victories over Edmonton’s Johnson Tao, Italy’s Joel Retornaz and Schwaller.
Brad Gushue is also 3-0 and into the playoffs. The St. John’s NL foursome defeated Swift Current’s Carl de Connick Smith, Ontario’s Scott Howard and Whyte to get a breather until Friday night’s money round.
Gushue’s tilt against Whyte scored 26,000 online viewers via Curling Stadium, the livestream provider of tour games available through the CurlingZone YouTube channel.
It’s a welcome change of pace for Gushue, who has been clambering out of numerous C-sides this season—both at Grand Slam tourneys and regular World Curling Tour stops.
Other big names still alive in C include defending ’spiel champion Kevin Koe of Edmonton and Swedish kingpin Niklas Edin.
Most of the top men’s teams will then head to Guelph, Ont. for the fourth Grand Slam event of the season, the Masters which runs Jan. 14-19 at the Sleeman Centre.