OTTAWA — There will be a new champion at this year’s world men’s curling championship. And Canada’s Brad Gushue has a chance to reach the top of the podium.
Gushue whipped four-time defending champion Niklas Edin of Sweden 9-1 on Saturday before locking up a spot in the title game with a 7-5 semifinal victory over Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller.
“I think that might have been our best game all week as a team,” Gushue said. “But we’ve struggled this week. So to get to a final, I think we’re pretty fortunate.
“We’ve just got to go out and play like we did today.”
Gushue will play Scotland’s Bruce Mouat for gold. Mouat drew the four-foot ring in an extra end for a 9-8 victory over Italy’s Joel Retornaz in the other semifinal.
The Canadians were mediocre at times during round-robin play but seem to be peaking at the right time.
Gushue topped Edin on Friday night to secure hammer in their qualification game and then picked up where he left off against the Swede.
“That certainly went a little more lopsided than we anticipated today,” Gushue said. “But we were making some more shots and I think they felt a little bit of urgency to push a little harder than they probably needed to.
“It created some opportunities for us.”
Buoyed by a lively partisan crowd at TD Place, Gushue and teammates Mark Nichols, E.J. Harnden and Geoff Walker were in strong form against a confident Swiss side.
The teams exchanged singles for six ends until Gushue made a hit for a deuce in the seventh. Swiss fourth Benoit Schwarz answered with a pair and Canada blanked the ninth end.
Tied with hammer coming home, Gushue made a short raise to force Schwarz to draw inside the shot stone on the four-foot. The Swiss rock was heavy, giving Canada the win.
“It just seemed like we couldn’t pull away even though we were playing so well,” Gushue said. “But we got the win.”
Switzerland earned a bye to the final four after leading the 13-team field in round-robin play at 11-1. Canada was seeded fourth at 9-3.
Scotland picked up the other direct semifinal berth as the No. 2 seed. Italy dispatched Norway’s Magnus Ramsfjell 8-4 in the other qualification game.
Gushue score two in the opening end against Edin, forced him to one, and blanked two ends before making an error in the fifth.
The St. John’s, N.L., skip caught a stone thick on a blank attempt to boost the lead to 3-1. Sweden had a shot for three in the sixth end but Edin rubbed his own stone and gave up a steal.
A desperation runback-triple in the seventh was wide, giving Gushue three more stolen points.
“The crowd energy continued today and getting off to that start of a two in the first end I think freed us up a little bit,” Gushue said.
Edin, the reigning Olympic champion, has won six world men’s titles over his career. He beat Gushue in last year’s final at Las Vegas.
“We can’t be too disappointed,” Edin said. “We’ve had a few really good years. A lot of them actually.”
Italy and Switzerland will play for bronze on Sunday morning. The final is scheduled for the afternoon.
Gushue has settled for silver in his last two appearances at this competition. The 2006 Olympic champion won his lone world title in 2017 at Edmonton.
Kerri Einarson skipped Canada to a bronze medal at last month’s world women’s curling championship in Sandviken, Sweden.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 8, 2023.
DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings made another investment this week in a young standout, signing Moritz Seider to a seven-year contract worth nearly $60 million.
The Red Wings announced the move with the 23-year-old German defenseman on Thursday, three days after keeping 22-year-old forward Lucas Raymond with a $64.6 million, eight-year deal.
Detroit drafted Seider with the No. 6 pick overall eight years ago and he has proven to be a great pick. He has 134 career points, the most by a defenseman drafted in 2019.
He was the NHL’s only player to have at least 200 hits and block 200-plus shots last season, when he scored a career-high nine goals and had 42 points for the second straight year.
Seider won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie in 2022 after he had a career-high 50 points.
Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman is banking on Seider, whose contract will count $8.55 million annually against the cap, and Raymond to turn a rebuilding team into a winner.
Detroit has failed to make the playoffs in eight straight seasons, the longest postseason drought in franchise history.
The Red Wings, who won four Stanley Cups from 1997 to 2008, have been reeling since their run of 25 straight postseasons ended in 2016.
Detroit was 41-32-9 last season and finished with a winning record for the first time since its last playoff appearance.
Yzerman re-signed Patrick Kane last summer and signed some free agents, including Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year contract worth $9.5 million after he helped the Florida Panthers hoist the Cup.
PENTICTON, B.C. – Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko says he’s been working his way back from a rare lower-body muscle injury since being sidelined in last season’s playoffs.
The 28-year-old all star says the rehabilitation process has been frustrating, but he has made good progress in recent weeks and is confident he’ll be able to return to playing.
He says he and his medical team have spent the last few months talking to specialists around the world, and have not found a single other hockey player who has dealt with the same injury.
Demko missed several weeks of the last season with a knee ailment and played just one game in Vancouver’s playoff run last spring before going down with the current injury.
He was not on the ice with his teammates as the Canucks started training camp in Penticton, B.C., on Thursday, but skated on his own before the sessions began.
Demko posted a 35-14-2 record with a .918 percentage, a 2.45 goals-against average and five shutouts for Vancouver last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — No. 1 Texas will start Arch Manning at quarterback Saturday against Louisiana-Monroe while regular starter Quinn Ewers continues to recover from a strained muscle in his abdomen, coach Steve Sarkisian said Thursday.
It will be the first career start for Manning, a second year freshman. He relieved Ewers in the second quarter last week against UTSA, and passed for four touchdowns and ran for another in a 56-7 Texas victory.
Manning is the son of Cooper Manning, the grandson of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning, and the nephew of Super Bowl-winning QBs Peyton and Eli Manning.
Ewers missed several games over the previous two seasons with shoulder and sternum injuries.
The Longhorns are No. 1 for the first time since 2008 and Saturday’s matchup with the Warhawks is Texas’ last game before the program starts its first SEC schedule against Mississippi State on Sept. 28.
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