Canadian Olympic gold medalist Brad Gushue of St. John’s, Newfoundland won the first grand slam event of the 2022-23 curling season on Sunday. At the 2022 Boost National from North Bay, Ontario, Team Gushue defeated Niklas Edin of Sweden 5-4 in nine ends.
The turning point in this match happened to come in the eighth end. That is when Edin had a chance to take the title, but was unable to make a double takeout with his final stone, and only eliminated one Canadian rock. Edin only scored one point instead of a possible two points, which forced an extra end. There, Gushue was able to score one point to win the championship. Gushue was also able to get a key steal in the seventh end, which at the time gave him a 4-3 lead.
Gushue went undefeated through the 2022 Boost National, winning all seven of his matches. He beat Ontario’s Glenn Howard 7-6, Alberta’s Kevin Koe 8-6, Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher 5-3, and Saskatchewan’s Colton Flasch 5-3 in pool play, before beating Michael Brunner of Switzerland 9-6 in the quarterfinals and Korey Dropkin of the United States 11-0 in the semifinals.
This was Gushue’s 14th Grand Slam title on the World Curling Tour. He previously won the 2010, 2015 and 2021 National, the 2014 and 2017 Masters, the 2014 and 2017 Canadian Open, the 2016 and 2018 Elite 10, the 2016 Players’ Championship, the 2017 Tour Challenge, and the 2018 and 2022 Champions Cup.
The 2022 National title was the first grand slam title Gushue has won with E.J. Harnden of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario as his new second. Harden took over from Brett Gallant, who moved to Alberta. Gushue won the gold medal for Canada at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin. Ironically, Harnden also won an Olympic gold medal as the second for Brad Jacobs at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.
