Brad Gusho’s Olympic dream ended in heartbreaking fashion

HALIFAX – Brad Gushoe was down on the ice at the Scotiabank Center with his head in his hands, not long after Newfoundland’s veteran captain let fly his last rock at Canada’s Olympic trials Wednesday night.

It was a must-win for three in the round-robin final, a moment for the late-game heroines to survive and earn a playoff berth, and Gusho missed it.

“Just had to hit maybe two-thirds of it, three-quarters of it, and didn’t hit hard enough,” said a frustrated Gusho after a 6-3 loss to teammate Brad Jacobs, after he threw a last stone that didn’t quite hit. “I tried to clean them under the sheet most of the way and we just missed the line call.”

And so Gusho, who won Olympic gold for Canada in 2006 and bronze four years ago, missed a chance to survive his bid to return to his sport’s biggest stage, for a shot at a berth at Milano Cortina 2026.

Gusho’s loss had far-reaching implications that turned the night on its head in dramatic fashion. Earlier in the day, Jacobs had been able to secure a berth in the Trials final directly, but just minutes before Gusho let the last shot fly, world No. 2 Matt Dunstone suffered his third straight loss. The skipper then had to rely on losses to Gushue and Kevin Coe to break through to the semi-finals.

It was Dunstone who lost first. And almost immediately after Mike McQueen’s Saskatchewan rink shellacked Dunstone to the tune of 9-5 to earn himself a spot in the semifinals, Dunstone threw his water bottle on the ground in frustration before meeting the media, which he wanted to get out of the way even before the Gushue-Jacobs game ended, even before his team.

“Obviously it’s very difficult, trying to wrap my head around it,” said an emotional Dunstone. “We’re playing the waiting game right now, because we might be able to return this sucker somehow.”

Somehow, that’s what happened: They pulled this sucker back. As he waited, Dunstone ate a chocolate donut. He saw something of the Jacobs-Gusho game on TV. And then he got the two results he needed and just as his team of third-seeded Colton Lott and the Harndon brothers, AJ at second and Ryan at lead, were alive again, and set for a rematch against McEwen in Thursday’s semifinals.

Team Dunstone came in as “favourites”, as indicated by McEwen, after he recorded a big win over Dunstone who finished just eight.

Dunstone came here as the top men’s team in Canada this season after making all three Grand Slam finals.

The Winnipeg foursome also won four straight to open the Trials, and Team Dunstone was the only undefeated squad in the men’s field after an additional win over Gusho two nights earlier. But with the loss to Coe and Jacobs, Dunstone needs a win, or some big help, to make the playoffs. They didn’t win, but they got a lot of help.

Even in his desperation, before he knew he had received this help, Dunstone was able to reflect on what it would mean to survive to have the chance to represent Canada at the Olympics.

“I mean, everything,” Dunstone said. “If it comes our way, I promise you’ll see the best version of Team Dunstone tomorrow.”

And then there’s the hope for Thursday, as Dunstone and McEwen meet in the semifinals for a round-robin final rematch, with the winner advancing to play Team Jacobs in a best-of-three final that opens Friday evening.

Jacobs, third Mark Kennedy, second Brett Gallant and lead Ben Hebert found out they were No. 1 in the field before Wednesday.

“We were in Cora, we just ordered breakfast and we got the notification that we went straight to the finals, so that was neat,” Jacobs said.

Experienced captain from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. It also indicated that the round-robin final was important for them, because a win guaranteed them a place in the final. And eliminating Gusho was also at the forefront of the mind.

“They can be dangerous,” Jacobs said. “He (Gusho) can be lethal. He has been for most of the last 10 years, most of his career. Anytime you have a chance to knock off a great team like that, you have to take advantage of that opportunity.”

“We played great tonight. I think it was our best day as a team in terms of performance and execution since we’ve been here. And it’s good to move on to the finals.”

As Jacobs was making his final comments to the media, a straight-faced Gusho waited for his turn to speak in what would be his final Olympic trials. The 45-year-old has announced that he is retiring after this season.

“It was pretty good until the last shot,” Gushoe said of his team’s run at the trials, laughing, adding that he appreciated the reception his team received from the fans all week. “We played very well, we had a chance to win this week.”

But it wasn’t to be for Gusho, third Mark Nicholls, second Brendan Bottcher and lead Geoff Walker, who also lost to McEwen earlier on Wednesday, to win his round-robin final against Jacobs in a must-win.

“Obviously we had a bad day today, losing to Mike and then losing to Brad, so we’re out,” said Geshoe, a six-time Brier champion who plans to compete in his final national championship next year in St. John’s.

“I would love to play tomorrow or Friday, but there are some better teams this week who probably deserve more than us.”

Then Gusho went forward to see his wife and two daughters, who were waiting for him on the surface of the ice. The skipper hugged his family, and his head hung low as they comforted him, not long after he threw his final stone for a final shot at an Olympic berth.