Quarter Final - McEwen vs Gushue
Jnuary 9, 2009
- Article by C. G. Ballard
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Gushue, who finished his round-robin with a 3-2 record was able to avoid the tiebreaker round with a perfect score of 0.0 in the draw shootout, meaning he had the pleasure of taking on the tough young Mike McEwen rink.
Gushue was able to put his rocks behind McEwen's guards in the first end, forcing a steal of two early.
Gushue was able to take advantage of a very wide open third end to come up with another deuce to pull ahead 4-1. With McEwen lying two, Mark Nichols was able to remove one stone and lie shot. McEwen was able to remove the Nichols stone but rolled wide into the open and forced McEwen into attempting a very hard runback double takeout. As he missed, Gushue was left with a difficult but makable double for three or a hit-and-stick for two. SHowing his maturity he elects for the safer shot, taking his deuce.
Following a blank in the sixth, Gushue dashed McEwen's hopes for a comeback with yet another deuce with the hammer, closing out Mike McEwen 6-3.
This match featured a Gushue team that averaged a smokin' 92% shot percentage to a weak 82% for McEwen.
Mark Nichols explains.
"Mike and (his team) struggled a bit early on and we took advantage. You get a steal of two early then force them to one is what you want when they have the hammer."
Brad Gushue (Photo by Chris Ballard/Curling Scoops)
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