Gushue, Homan advance to Co-op Canadian Open finals

By The Canadian Press on November 9, 2024.

Team Gushue skip Brad Gushue watches his shot against Team McEwen during the men's curling final at the PointsBet Invitational in Calgary on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

NISKU, Alta. – Brad Gushue and Bruce Mouat will meet in Sunday’s championship final of the Co-op Canadian Open.

Gushue’s team from St. John’s Newfoundland and Labrador – consisting of third Mark Nichols, second Brendan Bottcher and lead Geoff Walker – defeated Yannick Schwaller of Geneva, Switzerland 6-2 in Saturday’s semifinal of the Grand Slam of Curling event.

Gushue scored a single in the second end, then had steals of one in the third and fourth ends before Schaller counted a deuce in the fifth end. Gushue struck for three in the sixth end and then ran Schwaller out of rocks.

Mouat of Stirling, Scotland defeated Joel Retornaz of Trentino, Italy 4-2 in the other semifinal.

Mouat scored a pair in the first end, stole one in the fourth and one in the sixth, before Retornaz counted a deuce in the seventh. Mouat ran Retornaz out of rocks in the eighth end.

In the women’s semifinals, Silvana Tirinzoni of Aarau, Switzerland scored a single in the eighth end to edge Eun-jung Kim of South Korea 5-4, while Rachel Homan’s team from Ottawa – consisting of third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes – defeated Seung-youn Ha of South Korea 6-1 in the other semifinal.

Homan scored three in the first end, gave up one in the fourth and then added three more in the fifth to take a commanding 6-1 lead.

Tirinzoni and Homan will play in Sunday’s championship final.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.