Brad Gushue speaks with reporters after winning the 2022 Tim Hortons Brier at the ENMAX Centre in Lethbridge on March 13, 2022. (Lethbridge News Now)

By Justin Goulet/LethbridgeNewsNOW

Gushue praises resilience of teammates after Brier win

Mar 14, 2022 | 2:01 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – It was an emotional night for Brad Gushue’s Wild Card One curling team.

Gushue beat Alberta’s Kevin Koe 9-8 in an extra end to capture the 2022 Tim Hortons Brier at the ENMAX Centre in Lethbridge Sunday night.

READ MORE: Gushue’s Wild Card One team beats Alberta’s Kevin Koe in extra end to win the Brier

Gushue had won eight straight games in round-robin play at the tournament, but in a playoff seeding game on Friday, March 11, Wild Card One lost 4-3 to Canada’s Brendan Bottcher after the rink’s third Mark Nichols withdrew from play due to a positive COVID-19 test.

That left Gushue, Brett Gallant and Geoff Walker to go into the playoffs competing as a three-man team.

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READ MORE: Nichols out of Wild Card One lineup at Brier after positive COVID-19 test

Gushue went on to defeat Saskatchewan’s Colton Flasch 9-7 on Saturday morning, March 12. This set the team up for a rematch with Bottcher on Sunday morning, March 13. Gushue would win that draw 9-3 to secure a championship battle with Koe, which the Newfoundland-based rink won on Sunday night.

Gushue said after the draw that going into the playoffs, he knew his team was facing an uphill battle.

“Once Mark went down, it was a huge long-shot for us, but to be honest, I think it kind of inspired us and we found some extra energy.”

The 41-year-old praised the resilience of his teammates Brett Gallant and Geoff Walker.

“We knew we had to be our best and man, Brett and Geoff, the way they adapted to the new positions and the way they played is incredible. I’m very proud of them and this is pretty amazing. I never thought this would happen when Mark went down.”

Nichols, meanwhile, congratulated his teammates on social media.

Gushue said he’s excited to be able to embrace Nichols and celebrate the win together. The team’s skip commented, “the bad thing now is we’ve got to wait a couple of days before we can even just embrace him and give him a hug and kind of celebrate this, which is unfortunate because he was a big part of it.”

“We won eight games in a row, never lost a game when he was in the lineup. Even though we pulled this off, we’re a better team with Mark.”

Sunday was the first time a wild-card entry has won the Brier and it was the first time a rink competing with just three players won the Canadian men’s curling championship.

Gushue cited “the gutsiness of our team, the grit, the tenacity” when reflecting on the tournament and being short-handed for the playoffs.

He added, “what the three of us pulled off here the last few days, man oh man, it’s pretty crazy. I never thought a team of three could go through a gauntlet of Koe, Bottcher and Flasch in a Brier playoff.”

Gushue, Gallant and Walker celebrate after winning the 2022 Tim Hortons Brier at the ENMAX Centre in Lethbridge on March 13, 2022. (Lethbridge News Now)

Brett Gallant, the second on Team Gushue echoed his skip’s sentiments, saying “it’s been a theme, I think, over the eight years we’ve been together, is just resilience and fighting for everything and that was a big mountain to overcome when Mark got sick.”

“I’m really proud of Geoff [Walker, the team’s lead] on how he handled the change in position and just being in the house, and the way Brad still believed in us. I think we all believed in each other that we could still do it.”

Gallant said after that draw that physically, he felt amazing but mentally, the weekend competition “was draining”, noting that “with one less player out there, you’re just thinking a little bit more and trying to maybe do a few other jobs.”

“It was a draining last couple of days but I’m definitely on a high right now, this is exciting. I can’t believe we got that done and yeah, I’ll be on cloud nine for a few more days.”

With Sunday’s victory, Team Gushue will move on to represent Canada at the world men’s curling championship in Las Vegas next month, set for April 2 to 10, 2022.

Gallant said, “I couldn’t be more excited to represent Canada again with these guys.”

“Even though we came home with that bronze medal in Beijing [at the 2022 Winter Olympics], I think we’d love to give it our best shot at bringing home a gold in the world championship.”

Sunday’s win was Gushue’s fourth Brier championship in six years, having previously won the tournament in 2017, 2018 and 2020.