NISKU, Alta. — Canada’s Team Brad Gushue and Scotland’s Team Bruce Mouat will face off in a second consecutive Grand Slam of Curling final to start the season although things look a little different this time around at the Co-op Canadian Open.
Mouat downed Gushue in a decisive 10-3 victory to capture the HearingLife Tour Challenge men’s title last month in Charlottetown. Team Gushue made headlines just days later when the St. John’s, N.L., club announced it was parting ways with second E.J. Harnden. Gushue continued to stop the presses as former skip Brendan Bottcher was named as Harnden’s replacement.
Bottcher, who won five Grand Slam titles as a skip, said it feels great to reach the final in his first Grand Slam event with Team Gushue.
“I think this is going really well, even better than I could have imagined,” Bottcher said following Saturday’s 6-2 win over Switzerland’s Team Yannick Schwaller in the semifinals. “We certainly came out and played a great game this evening.”
Gushue carries an unblemished 6-0 record into the final, however, Mouat is also undefeated this week and has yet to lose in the series this season.
“I’m just excited to play the new team lineup and to see how that’s working for them,” Mouat said. “Obviously, it’s working really well and it’s going to be a tough game, but we’re playing really well as well, so bring it on.”
Bottcher made his Team Gushue debut last week representing Canada and finishing fourth at the Pan Continental Curling Championships in Lacombe, Alta. While it’s been a long two weeks to start his tenure with Team Gushue, Bottcher feels great despite the fatigue.
“It’s a lot of energy joining these guys,” he said. “I think we have a really good dynamic going on the ice and when you do that it just feels a little bit easier.”
The seven-time Grand Slam champion Mouat has had a year for the history books in the Grand Slam of Curling. He became just the sixth men’s skip to complete a career Grand Slam when he defeated Bottcher in January to win last season’s Co-op Canadian Open in Red Deer, Alta. The non-major HearingLife Tour Challenge was the last one for Mouat to cross off the list as he joined Gushue in a class of their own in the men’s division.
“The feeling never gets old,” Mouat said after his team beat Italy’s Team Joël Retornaz 4-2 in Saturday’s semifinals. “It’s really nice. It’s been another really incredible week for us and we’ve playing a lot of really good curling. I’m excited to step onto the ice (Sunday) and hopefully win another.”
Gushue opened his semifinal matchup with the hammer but was forced to draw for just one point in the second end after Team Schwaller fourth Benoît Schwarz-van Berkel pulled off a triple takeout to sit three.
No hammer? No problem as Gushue managed to steal back-to-back singles in the third and fourth ends as Schwarz-van Berkel misfired his shots.
Team Schwaller bounced back in the fifth to score a deuce and close within one, however, Gushue pulled away again with a three count in the sixth end. Team Schwaller conceded in the seventh end before Schwarz-van Berkel could throw his last rock.
“It felt like we applied pressure all the way through the lineup,” Bottcher said. “I thought (lead) Geoff (Walker) played well and just up the lineup, I thought we made a couple more shots than they did, kept the pressure on and we got a few misses.”
Meanwhile, Mouat scored a deuce off the bat against Retornaz and built a four-point advantage thanks to single steals in the fourth and sixth ends.
Retornaz broke the shutout in the seventh with a deuce to cut the deficit in half but handed the hammer to Mouat for the eighth end.
Mouat, who curled 100 per cent, could see enough of Retornaz’s lone rock in the house on his first skip shot to peel it out and secure the victory.
“We started off with a really strong two and from there we really controlled it,” Mouat said. “We didn’t really didn’t give them a sniff in the first four ends. We made them play some really tough shots just for blanks as well.
“We got a wee bit fortunate that they missed their really tough shot for two, gave us a steal of one, and then from there we kind of had our heads down and focused on getting to the end of the line.”
Championship Sunday at the Co-op Canadian Open begins with the women’s final between Canada’s Team Rachel Homan and Switzerland’s Team Silvana Tirinzoni at noon ET / 10 a.m. MT followed by the men’s final at 4:30 p.m. ET / 2:30 p.m. MT. Watch live on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.