Gushue rides wave of hometown support to undefeated record in Brier pool play

By Canadian Press on March 5, 2026.

ST. JOHN’S — Spurred by a raucous hometown crowd, Brad Gushue’s curling team closed out pool play undefeated at Montana’s Brier with a 4-2 win over defending champion and reigning Olympic champion Brad Jacobs on Thursday.

Gushue topped Pool A with an 8-0 record ahead of Jacobs at 7-1 in St. John’s, N.L.

Gushue is a six-time Brier champion. He and longtime teammates Mark Nichols and Geoff Walker are attempting to win a record seventh in their skip’s final appearance in a Canadian men’s curling championship.

Their second Brendan Bottcher seeks his second. Gushue won his first Brier in 2017 in St. John’s.

Gushue’s hit for two in the ninth end and a 4-2 lead had the packed Mary Brown’s Centre roaring and on its feet singing along to “Heave Away” by the Fables.

His double takeout in the 10th to negate any chance for a Jacobs deuce had the partisan crowd of over 6,100 bellowing again to “heave away, me jollies, heave away.”

“There’s probably only a few more roars like that left for this team,” Nichols said. “To not pay attention to that, I think we’d be silly to do.

“How many more roars we got I don’t know, but I’m going to enjoy every single one of them.”

Gushue’s goal heading into a hometown Brier, and his last, was a tall order of keeping his emotions in check, enjoying the moment and competing well enough to win again.

“What surprised me a little bit is how good I felt,” he said. “I was really nervous about having a lot of emotion, having a lot of nerves, having stress and anxiety.

“That’s all there, don’t get me wrong, but it’s less than what I thought it was going to be. I have really enjoyed this.”

Jayden King’s rookie Ontario team from Tillsonburg claimed the third and final playoff spot in the pool with a 9-4 win over Saskatchewan’s Kelly Knapp for a 5-3 record.

“We like kind of having our backs against the wall and being the Cinderella story of the event,” said King. “There’s not really any pressure on us.”

Quebec’s Jean-Michel Menard also finished 5-3 with an 8-3 win over Prince Edward Island, but King won the head-to-head tiebreaker between the two teams to rank higher.

The top three teams in each pool of nine at the conclusion of pool play Thursday advanced to Friday’s playoff round, from which Saturday’s four Page playoff teams and seedings will be determined.

Four-time Brier champion Kevin Koe of Alberta at 7-0 secured top seed in Pool B.

Manitoba’s Matt Dunstone (6-1) locked down a playoff berth in that group with a win over Northern Ontario in the morning draw.

His ranking, and the third playoff berth, were still on the table heading into the evening draw when Dunstone faced Saskatchewan’s Mike McEwen (5-2).

New Brunswick’s James Grattan and Manitoba’s Braden Calvert (both 4-3) were also still in contention.

Sunday’s winner represents Canada at the men’s world curling championship March 27 to April 4 in Ogden, Utah, and returns to the 2027 Canadian championship in Saskatoon wearing the Maple Leaf.

Gushue versus Jacobs on Thursday afternoon was the marquee bout of pool play.

“It felt the intensity of a playoff game, at least from our standpoint,” Gushue said.

“Team Jacobs are probably pretty tired from the last number of weeks, but from our standpoint, it was a 100 per cent game. We wanted to show our best out there today.”

Jacobs, Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant and lead Ben Hebert won Olympic gold in Cortina, Italy, less than a week out from their first game in St. John’s.

Never mind finding their second wind, they were well into their fifth and sixth Thursday.

“It’s a continuous wind,” Jacobs quipped earlier in the week.

“Here’s the reality for our team. We’re either going to win this week and we’re going to go home and we are going to be excited to be home, or we’re going to lose this week, we’re going to go home and be excited to be home,” he said Thursday.

“I’m good with either one. Just going to play loose and try to make shots and have fun and we’ll see how it goes.”

Koe will face Jacobs and Gushue awaited the outcome of Thursday evening’s draw for his next opponent Friday afternoon.

The winners of those two games meet in the Page playoff between the top two seeds Saturday evening. The Page three-four game combatants that afternoon will emerge from Friday evening’s playoff between the remaining four teams.

Pool A draws have been louder and warmer than Pool B because of Gushue, Jacobs and a second Newfoundland team skipped by 23-year-old Nathan Young combining to draw sellout crowds.

“I’ll be interested to see how teams from the other pool handle that crowd because we’ve had to deal with it all week,” Jacobs said.

Saskatchewan’s Knapp, P.E.I.’s Tyler Smith and Young finished 3-5 in Pool A ahead of Nova Scotia’s Kendal Thompson (2-6) and Nunavut’s Derek Samagalski (0-8).

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 5, 2026.

Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press