Brad Gushue

Men's curling
Representing Canada
Winter Olympics
	2006 Turin
World Junior Curling Championships
	1998 Thunder Bay
	2001 Ogden
Canadian Olympic Curling Trials
	2005 Halifax
	2013 Winnipeg
Tim Hortons Brier
	2007 Hamilton
	2016 Ottawa
	2011 London

Bradley Raymond "Brad" Gushue, ONL (born June 16, 1980) is a Canadian curler from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Gushue, along with teammates Russ Howard, Mark Nichols, Jamie Korab and Mike Adam, represented Canada in curling at the 2006 Winter Olympics, where they won the gold medal by defeating Finland 10–4, including a dramatic 6-point sixth end in the final match (even though he missed a draw for 7-points), which was conceded after the 8-end minimum stipulated under Olympic rules.

Career

Gushue is a six-time (1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001) provincial junior curling champion in his home province of Newfoundland and Labrador, the last five as skip. In 2000, he finished runner up at the national championship and in 2001, he not only won the provincial championship, but the national championship and world junior championships as well. Gushue was also the alternate for John Morris at the 1998 World Junior Championships which Morris won.

After his outstanding career as a junior, Gushue made an impressive transition into men's curling and his team quickly became a competitive force. Gushue qualified for the 2003 Nokia Brier where he finished with a 6–5 record. By the 2004 Nokia Brier, Gushue proved not only was he one of the best curlers in Newfoundland, but one of the best in Canada, when his team finished with an 8–4 record. The following year, Gushue qualified for the 2005 Tim Hortons Brier where his team once again finished 6–5.

In May 2005, Gushue brought in former world champion Russ Howard as fifth man on the team, in order to bring experience and advice for the Canadian Olympic trials. Shortly afterwards, second Mike Adam volunteered to step aside for Howard, as the team felt that Howard's skills and experience gave them the best chance to make it to the Olympics. Howard, playing as second, was given the right to call the team's shots as a skip would, but would defer to Gushue for the final word on calls. (Under international rules, Howard was nominally the skip, holding the broom in the house and sweeping opponents stones behind the tee line.) The personnel change was a success, as Gushue defeated Jeff Stoughton's team in the Olympic trials final on December 11, 2005, qualifying him to represent Canada at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. At the Olympics, he defeated Finland's Markku Uusipaavalniemi in the finals to win the Gold medal.^[1]

With his teammates, Gushue became the first Newfoundlander ever to win an Olympic gold medal. Prior to the gold medal match, a provincial order allowed for the closure of all schools at noon on that day, one hour before local coverage of the event began.

In 2007, Gushue replaced Mike Adam with Chris Schille as second. A month following their runner-up finish at the 2007 Tim Hortons Brier in Hamilton, Gushue announced that Jamie Korab, longtime teammate, was also cut from the team. Despite a strong Brier appearance and season, Gushue said that the team seemed to lack a needed chemistry and that Korab's departure was a group decision.^[2] In 2008, David Noftall assumed the lead position but this did not prove to be a winning combination.

In April 2008, Gushue replaced his front-end for the sixth straight year: Jamie Korab rejoined the team as lead and Ryan Fry joined the team at second.^[3] Gushue failed to make it out of the 2009 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials pre-qualifying tournament, where they won just one game.

In April 2010, Randy Ferbey joined Gushue's team holding the broom but throwing third rocks. Gushue continued to throw last rocks.^[4] Mark Nichols moved from third to second position and Ryan Fry played lead. Jamie Korab decided to take a year or two off. In their first event as a team, the rink lost to Thomas Lips in the final of the 2010 Baden Masters.

On February 9, 2011, Randy Ferbey announced that he was no longer curling with the Gushue team. He stated "I was done curling with them in Oshawa (The BDO Canadian Open Grand Slam Event).^[5]

For the 2011–12 season, Gushue put together a team of Ryan Fry, Geoff Walker of Alberta, and Adam Casey of PEI.

Gushue played in the 2013 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials – Road to the Roar, and just missed out on advancing to the 2013 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, losing to the eventual Olympic gold medalist Brad Jacobs rink in the final qualifying game.

Brier appearances

Gushue has played in thirteen Briers, all for his native Newfoundland and Labrador. He made his first showing at the Brier (Canadian Men's National Championship) in 2003, and has continued to represent Newfoundland and Labrador each year since, except in 2006 when he was unable to participate due to being at the Olympics in Italy. In 2004, Brad Gushue was named the All Star skip at the Nokia Brier. His best record ever was at the 2007 Brier in Ontario, where he finished 8–3 and earned himself a spot in the "One vs. Two" playoff game, where he beat Ontario's Glenn Howard. His team advanced to the finals, where they would have a rematch with Howard, and this time would lose. At the 2008 Brier, Gushue's team failed to make the playoffs, losing a tie-breaker to British Columbia's Bob Ursel.^[6]

During the 2011 Tim Horton's Brier event in London, The Gushue Rink won the first ever Brier Bronze Medal game, defeating Kevin Martin (Alberta) 10-5. Gushue missed the playoffs at the 2012 Tim Hortons Brier, posting a 5-6 record. At the 2013 Tim Hortons Brier, his rink made the playoffs again after an 8-3 round robin record. However, the team would lose in the 3 vs. 4 page playoff game against Northern Ontario, and then they would fall again in the bronze medal game to Ontario, settling for 4th. At the 2014 Tim Hortons Brier, Gushue missed the playoffs, posting a 6-5 record.

At the 2015 Tim Hortons Brier, Gushue would have a great round-robin finishing 2nd at 9-2, including making the shot of the week to win in an extra end against AB. Said shot earned him an appearance on TSN SportsCentre's "1v1" segment and ultimately became the first athlete to retire as 1v1 Champion, winning the fan vote 10 times in a row against other spectacular plays in the world of sports. In the playoffs, Gushue would lose both the 1v2 game and the semifinal. In the Bronze medal game against SK, Gushue would lose in an extra end when he missed a difficult runback shot.

Gushue won the Ford Hot Shots skills competition at the 2016 Tim Hortons Brier.^[7]

Personal life

Brad Gushue is currently a business owner and real estate investor.^[8] Gushue married Krista Tibbo on September 8, 2006.^[9] They have two children.

In 2006, Gushue co-authored a book with Alex J. Walling titled Golden Gushue: a Curling Story, which offers a behind the scenes look at the rise of his team to Olympic gold.^[10]

Grand Slam record

As of the 2016 Players' Championship, Brad Gushue has reached the championship match of a Grand Slam event 13 times, winning a career total of six Slams. By winning the 2016 Players' Championship, Gushue had completed a career Grand Slam, having won all four of the original Slams. His first Slam final was in 2005 when he finished second, after losing to Kevin Martin in the final game of Players' Championship. In 2010, he again made it to the finals at The National, facing Randy Ferbey. Gushue won the game, earning his first Grand Slam title of his career.^[11]

Key
C	Champion
F	Lost in Final
SF	Lost in Semifinal
QF	Lost in Quarterfinals
R16	Lost in the round of 16
Q	Did not advance to playoffs
T2	Played in Tier 2 event
DNP	Did not participate in event
N/A	Not a Grand Slam event that season

Event	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04	2004–05	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10	2010–11	2011–12	2012–13	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16
Tour Challenge	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	F
Masters	Q	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	Q	Q	SF	SF	QF	QF	Q	DNP	C	QF
The National	DNP	DNP	DNP	Q	QF	QF	Q	F	C	Q	SF	QF	F	Q	C
Canadian Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	Q	Q	Q	Q	QF	Q	Q	Q	QF	F	C	F
Elite 10	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	QF	C
Players'	DNP	Q	Q	F	Q	Q	Q	QF	F	DNP	Q	QF	SF	QF	C
Champions Cup	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	SF

Teams

Season	Skip	Third	Second	Lead
2002-03	Brad Gushue	Mark Nichols	Jamie Korab	Mark Ward
2003-04	Brad Gushue	Mark Nichols	Jamie Korab	Mark Ward
2004-05	Brad Gushue	Mark Nichols	Keith Ryan	Jamie Korab
2005-06	Brad Gushue	Mark Nichols	Mike Adam Russ Howard (skip)	Jamie Korab
2006-07	Brad Gushue	Mark Nichols	Chris Schille	Jamie Korab
2007-08	Brad Gushue	Mark Nichols	Chris Schille	David Noftall
2008-09	Brad Gushue	Mark Nichols	Ryan Fry	Jamie Korab
2009-10	Brad Gushue	Mark Nichols	Ryan Fry	Jamie Korab
2010-11*	Brad Gushue	Randy Ferbey (skip)	Mark Nichols	Ryan Fry
2011*	Brad Gushue	Mark Nichols	Ryan Fry	Jamie Danbrook
2011-12	Brad Gushue	Ryan Fry	Geoff Walker	Adam Casey
2012-13	Brad Gushue	Brett Gallant	Adam Casey	Geoff Walker
2013-14	Brad Gushue	Brett Gallant	Adam Casey	Geoff Walker
2014–15	Brad Gushue	Mark Nichols	Brett Gallant	Geoff Walker
2015–16	Brad Gushue	Mark Nichols	Brett Gallant	Geoff Walker

*Ferbey left team mid season

References

↑ "Gushue rink takes Torino gold". CBC News. February 24, 2006. Retrieved 2015-11-10.
↑ Short, Robin (April 5, 2007). "Korab cut". The Telegram. St. John's. Retrieved 2015-11-10.
↑ "TSN Curling Report". Archived from the original on January 12, 2009. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
↑ "Ferbey will throw third rocks". Edmonton Sun. April 6, 2010. Retrieved 2015-11-10.
↑ "Ferbey done with Gushue". Canoe.com Sports. February 9, 2011. Retrieved 2015-11-10.
↑ "The 2008 Tim Hortons Brier". Curling Scoops. Archived from the original on April 22, 2008.
↑ "Brad Gushue wins Ford Hot Shots Competition". Curling Canada. Curling Canada. March 5, 2016. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
↑ http://cloudfront5.curling.ca/2016brier/files/2016/03/BRIER-FRI-ALL.pdf
↑ http://wedbelles.homeip.net/
↑ "Gushue ready to be the prime target". The Globe and Mail. November 6, 2006. Retrieved 2015-11-10.
↑ "First Grand Slam Title for Brad Gushue". Curling Scoops. Archived from the original on July 8, 2011.

External links

Brad Gushue on the World Curling Federation database

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