Sorry, folks ... I am a buzzkill

It’s time for some random thoughts from another series of busy curling tour weeks.

First up ... who dreamed up “Gushued” as a new curling term? This refers, of course, to the occasion of losing to a three-player squad—after Team Brad Gushue won the recent Brier with three players.

Some will think the credit should go to the Gushue social media team, who dropped the self-reference when Niklas Edin went down with injury and his three mates went on to beat Gushue—and then Matt Dunstone—to win the Tour Challenge men’s Slam.

We think the kudos should go to one of our staff writers, who coined the term “pulled a Gushue” for a June 2022 story on New Zealand’s four-player women’s champions, who actually won their title three-legged—after their opening match, no less.

Team Edin is just the latest champ in this saga of successful three-player win streaks. Their skip went down after throwing the semifinal round’s pre-game draw to the button and couldn’t continue. Former skip/Edin rival Oskar Eriksson threw last stones, while former skips/Edin rivals Rasmus Wranå and Christoffer Sundgren threw three stones each with one sweeper.

Edin had lost the previous Slam final to Gushue a week earlier in North Bay, Ont. That’s two Slam finals in two weeks and a first Slam title since 2017.

A different Edin threesome lost the final of the Players’ Championship last April, as Sundgren nursed a wonky knee.

Maybe there’s something to this three-player curling thing.

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We can’t leave Grande Prairie without saluting the Tier 2 spectacle. This was a group that competed mostly outside the spotlight in a neighbouring arena—until their men’s and women’s final, when they were welcomed into the main Tier 1 playpen.

Thirty-two additional four-player teams (16 men’s and 16 women’s squads) were given a chance to compete, win some cash and qualify for an upcoming Slam. 

A double-sized event has to be tough on the organizers, but the local fans surely love it.

Korey Dropkin’s U.S. foursome won their second straight Tier 2 title over Calgary’s Aaron Sluchinski, while Montreal’s Felix Asselin and Saskatoon’s Kody Hartung lost the semis.

The quarterfinalists were Edmonton’s Karsten Sturmay, Switzerland’s Lukas Höstmaelingen, and Winnipeg’s Ryan Wiebe and Mike McEwen.

It’s a bit jarring to see teams like McEwen and USA’s John Shuster toiling in the second tier.

Meanwhile, Clancy Grandy continued her hot hand by beating Jessie Hunkin for the women’s Tier 2 crown. Grandy, who hails from the greater Toronto area, has moved west to join a solid young B.C. team which has jumped to 16th in the women’s world curling team rankings—and all the way up to fourth on the CTRS, aka the Canadian Team Rankings System.

Tier 2 women’s semifinalists were Halifax’s Christina Black and Territories’ Kerry Galusha. Quarterfinal berths went to Fredericton’s Andrea Kelly, Winnipeg’s Kristy Watling, and Edmonton’s Kelsey Rocque and Elysa Crough.

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The new Tracy Fleury foursome won the women’s Slam in GP, beating Kerri Einarson in the finale. Of course, the squad is formally known as Team Homan—according to their online properties—although Homan is now the fourth thrower. Fleury is technically the skip.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0ZY3BsbL-8[/embed]

This can be confusing in terms of record-keeping, and curling—in terms of past World Curling Tour records—is sometimes accused of being rife with errors in linescores, won/loss and head-to-head records, and other researchable minutae. Stakeholder entities will need to pay attention moving forward.

This is the same logic that reminds us that Brad Gushue is not an Olympic champion skip. He is an Olympic champion, but Russ Howard was the skip of that 2006 team.

Yes … I am a buzzkill.

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In the wondering aloud department, and still with Gushue, he and Einarson will represent Canada at the inaugural Pan Continental Championship taking place in Calgary next week. The new event was first explained a few months ago.

Einarson needs to do the job to get Canada into next year’s world women’s championship, but Gushue, oddly, does not. Canada is hosting the next men’s worlds—in Ottawa—and, as host, Canada doesn’t need to qualify.

So it doesn’t really matter how the Gushue Gang does in Calgary, although they’ll obviously be pumped to wear the maple leaf again. 

There’s no prize money. Are there world ranking points at stake, or something else I’m not aware of?

Did Curling Canada consider asking a different squad—perhaps a younger, development-type men’s team—to gain experience in Calgary?

Should they have?

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It’s great to see Canada’s Jean-Michel Ménard return to the world stage, 16 years after winning world team men’s silver, and get his gold medal.

His 2006 men’s team defeated Ontario’s Glenn Howard in the Brier final, and exploded into one of the greatest on-ice victory celebrations in curling history.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5LkEQvkXrs[/embed]

The freakout would have continued even longer, but on-ice officials prevented two of the Quebeckers from finishing their cross-rink run to hug their wives and girlfriends. CBC-TV needed player interviews, you see, and to get the trophy presentation rolling.

As you can see in the above video, the Regina crowd booed the officials for stopping the party.

It marked Quebec’s second-ever Brier championship, 29 years after the first one, and the lads absolutely nailed the celly.

I made it into the team’s hotel rooms for the all-night afterparty, and the unbridled joy rarely ebbed. What scenes.

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Speaking of Ménard, the Pan-Continental event and Team Homan, make sure you listen (and watch) the next video podcast episode of From The Hack. 

Host Frank Roch will interview Ménard—with two questions asked and answered in French—as well as Homan second Emma Miskew and our contributor Hans Frauenlob, who will set up the Pan-Continental in detail.