Canada鈥檚 Team Brad Gushue will defend its gold medal after a barn-burner of a semifinal against Team Andrew Stopera of the United States at the 2023 Pan Continental Curling Championships.
Team Gushue, from St. John鈥檚, N.L., defeated the Americans 8-3 on Friday morning at the Kelowna Curling Club. The win puts Canada into the gold-medal game on Saturday at 3 p.m. (all times Pacific), against South Korea.
Canada鈥檚 Gushue, vice-skip Mark Nichols, second E.J. Harnden, lead Geoff Walker, alternate Jim Cotter from Vernon, coach Caleb Flaxey and national coach Jeff Stoughton play against the only team it is yet to defeat at the 2023 Pan Continentals. South Korea鈥檚 Team Jongduk Park won its semifinal game and will face Canada in the gold-medal game. The two teams played in the first round-robin game of the week, with South Korea coming away with a win.
鈥淲e want to be in that game. We play Korea, so we get an opportunity to play them again. We had a rough game against them the first game, so hopefully, we can give them our best and see how it turns out,鈥� said Gushue.
Canada鈥檚 Team Gushue is in its second straight Pan Continental gold-medal game. Last year, Team Gushue defeated South Korea, led by skip Byeongjin Jeong, at the inaugural event in Calgary.
鈥淎ny event we play in, we want to be in that final. We鈥檝e been taking every step towards that this week and now we鈥檙e there. We need to just tighten those screws just a little bit more and come out firing in the final,鈥� said Nichols post-game.
In the other semifinal, South Korea鈥檚 Team Park defeated Japan鈥檚 Team Riku Yanagisawa 8-7. The United States and Japan face each other in today鈥檚 men鈥檚 bronze-medal game at 7 p.m.
Cotter got his second taste of game action as the preliminary round closed out Thursday, and an 11-1 win over Team Rayad Husain from Guyana helped Gushue clinch first place. Team Canada tied with Japan鈥檚 Team Riku Yanagisawa (6-1) for first place, but Gushue earned top seed based on a round-robin win over the Japanese.
Canada started the game against Guyana with hammer and capitalized with a three-ender. Guyana, led by skip Husain from Brampton, Ont., blanked the second end and hoped for greener pastures in the third, but Team Gushue stole three for an early 6-0 lead.
Guyana and Canada exchanged singles in the fourth and fifth ends. At the start of the fifth, Gushue handed alternate Cotter the keys to the running car. Gushue subbed out of the game, Nichols moved up to skip and Cotter slotted into the vice-skip role.
鈥淲e wanted to give him another chance to get in. He鈥檚 taken a week away from his life and work to support us this week,鈥� Gushue said. 鈥淥nce we got up, we knew we were probably pretty comfortable putting him in. E.J. wanted to stay in the lineup and we had already taken Geoff out, so it was up to me or Mark. Mark鈥檚 come out a bunch of times over the years and I鈥檝e come out the least, so it was my turn.鈥�
With Cotter in the lineup, the Canadians scored four in the sixth, which triggered the Guyana-initiated handshakes and forfeit.
鈥淚t felt great. The guys have been great and I know they鈥檝e been trying to get me in there,鈥� said Cotter to Curling Canada. 鈥淵ou come here (Kelowna Curling Club) and know so many people by name. I curled with guys from Kelowna and we practised here a lot. It was kind of one of my home clubs, both Vernon and Kelowna, so this feels like home.鈥�
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