Wounded Gushue Still as Good as Anyone

LONDON, ON —Not that I wrote it down, but my pre-event prediction was a Dunstone-Gushue final, and lo and behold, that is the most likely matchup at this time.

Their battle in last night’s Page 1-2 game (or whatever it’s called) was awesome. I don’t remember a game where both teams were playing at such a high level. The percentages were high, but the shot making degree of difficulty was insane.

Despite the loss, I still feel like it is Dunstone’s time. Matt has outworked most of the teams in Canada. With all due respect to some amazing shooters, I think B.J. Neufeld is the best third in the game right now.

Gushue has not looked right this week. I have heard he is skipping practices, and he doesn’t look comfortable. But even a wounded Gushue is still as good as anyone on the planet. Last night was fun to watch and if Dunstone makes it past the semi, it should be fun to watch all over again.

After a great run this week and through the Ontario provincial, Magic Mike’s run came to an end. But it has certainly been a great ride for a team that 12 weeks ago was struggling through a B-side qualifier to even get to provincials. It’s amazing how fickle this game can be.

Some thoughts on Quebec. My former teammates had, by all measures, a great week. They finished a solid 5-3, and were only a Sturmay-collapse away from being in a tiebreaker to make the playoffs. They had insanely close games against both Gushue and Bottcher. I predicted earlier in the week that Felix would find a way to beat one of them; missed on that one.

I recently watched the Netflix documentary on the PGA Tour (Full Swing) and one of my favourite parts was an interview with Rory McIlroy where he talks about Mito Perreira collapsing at the PGA Championship on the final hole. All he said was “Golf is hard.”

The fact is, at this level, Curling Is Hard. It is three hours of intense concentration, patience, and a constant battle against your emotions. I feel like Felix is getting there but give him time. His best curling is still ahead of him, as he builds up the experience and scar tissue you need to beat the best.

There were a lot of nice stories this week that came from the bottom half of the field.

The young kids from Newfoundland finished strong. They look to be invested in getting better. I look forward to seeing them in years to come.

I loved watching New Brunswick. Scott Jones finished way down in the field but played some solid, entertaining curling.

Tyler Smith from PEI was also impressive, especially in pulling off an upset win against Ontario, and then taking Gushue down to last rock.

All in all, it was a good week for the notion of provincial representation. It was tougher to argue that many of the teams did not belong, and there was not a team in the field that did not put on a good show.

We will surely be talking about lessening residency rules and wild cards in the weeks to come, but for this week it was great to see the provincial teams perform well at the show.