First Grand Slam Title For Gushue
January 10, 2009
- Article by C.G. Ballard and Brad Norman
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Today's final in the Swiss Chalet National between Team Ferbey and Team Gushue had a different feel for both teams. For Ferbey, it's the first time he played against someone not named Howard or Martin, while for Gushue, was searching for his first Grand Slam title, after coming close against Wayne Middaugh in this same event last year.
Heading into this game, you'd have to give the advantage to Team Ferbey having played in 6 Grand Slam finals, compared to two for Gushue. Ferbey has won 3, Gushue has yet to claim a victory in a Grand Slam.
With the win, Team Gushue goes home with 40 CTRS points and a cool $22,000 in cash.
In the first end, Team Gushue wasted no time getting rocks in play, calling for lead Jamie Korab to send his first stone to the four-foot and chose to guard it up closely with his second. A failed draw from Ferbey second Scott Pfeifer seemed to open up the house and allowed Mark Nichols to make a great double, leaving Gushue lying two without the hammer. Randy Ferbey answered back quickly with his first stone, pulling off a runback double of his own. When Ferbey missed a second runback double and peeled off his own stone, Brad Gushue guarded his two rocks in the house in hopes to maybe steal in the first end. Dave Nedohin's first stone peels the top Gushue guard as Team Ferbey can now only hope for the single. With Gushue's last, he draws behind the two stones already in the house. Unfortunately, it landed too deep into the house, allowing Nedohin the opportunity to draw to the button, resulting in the single for Ferbey in the first.
The second end started in the exact same way with both teams front ends getting lots of rocks in play. With Ferbey lying three, Gushue's second Ryan Fry misses a takeout, rolls his shooter and keeps the Ferbey stone in play, allowing Team Ferbey to draw in behind their own stone to lie four early. Fry missed another attempted double, leaving three Ferbey yellows in the house. Mark Nichols also has his first rock undercurl , but makes up for it big time when he executes a perfect runback to the four-foot to lie one. In an attempt to force them to one, Dave Nedohin draws to the Gushue stone in the four-foot, leaving Gushue a tap for two. He makes the tap but can't keep his stone, and settles for one to tie the game.
Team Gushue elects to start the third end a little differently, throwing a centre line guard instead of putting a rock in the house. A miss by Marcel Rocque allowed Ryan Fry to place a rock in the rings and set up the end well. A great soft shot and great sweeping by Team Ferbey allowed them to pull a rock behind cover, lying one. A missed runback by Nichols peels his own guard, opening the door for Team Ferbey to split the rings. Gushue's first took out the outlying Ferbey stone and rolled across the house and tightly behind cover. Nedohin was unable to remove it with his first, giving the momentum back to Gushue. He nailed the hit and stick with his last, leaving Nedohin an open draw for another single to take the lead 2-1.
As things were looking up for Ferbey in the fourth, Ryan Fry, who played poorly through the first three ends, pulls off a nice double peel to open up space for Gushue. Fry came through again with his second, making the takeout and getting a freeze. Nichols's second just cleared a guard and was able to nudge out the yellow stone but was unable to claim shot rock. No problem for Brad Gushue, as he executed an extremely difficult runback red-yellow-red-yellow to lie two behind his own cover. Nedohin's last squeaks by the guard nicely into shot position forcing Brad to come up huge once again, executing another perfect runback to score three big ones, putting Team Gushue in the lead heading into the fourth end break.
After a lengthy fourth end break, Team Gushue comes out full of confidence, especially second Ryan Fry. Struggling early in the game, Fry makes a nice double peel to leave the house open for third stones. Nichols follows suit and peels his first as well, setting up the blank.
In the sixth end, a couple of near hits and near misses made for some tense moments early in the end. With two ferbey stones in the house, Gushue came up big once again, taking out one yellow and rolling behind his own cover. Nedohin's first was able to tap out the Gushue rock but remained partially visible for Gushue to take it out with his last. Brad takes it out but jams on the back, leaving Nedohin the take out for two to tie the game 4-4.
The Gushue squad was looking to set up a deuce in the seventh end. However, some good shot making from Ferbey's team made that strategy difficult. Gushue switched gears and played for the blank. He pealed everything in sight, leaving the house wide open. Nedohin drew in with his final stone and Gushue answered back with a clean take-out to blank the end, retaining hammer for the final end.
With the hammer in the final end, Guhsue was tried to keep the house clean. But due to a couple of missed shots early on, Gushue found himself scrambling. A great shot from Mark Nichols, however, opened it wide up. Nichols made a triple peel to clear out all the guards, then followed up with a double take-out to remove shot stone. When David Nedohin's first draw sank too dead, Gushue followed him down with a draw. This forced Nedohin to draw with his last stone and grab a piece of the button. Gushue played a tricky double with the last to removed all of Ferbey's stones. This gave Gushue two points, the win, and the first Grand Slam title of his career.
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