After capturing a morning Draw 10 victory over Jeff Stoughton 8-5, Brad Gushue and his St. John's rink were a win away from advancing from the quarterfinals at the Tylenol Players' Championship Friday night at Mile One Centre.
Facing Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons on sheet E Friday evening, Gushue et al were handed a 7-2 loss after the western rink recorded a 5-ender in the fifth.
Gushue opened with hammer, scoring one. Simmons blanked the second and scored two in the third end to lead 2-1 heading into the fourth.
In the fourth, Gushue was left with a double takeout, which, if he could get the shooter to stick would have put the Newfoundland rink up 3-2. Just outside the four foot, Gushue says the stone picked.
"We made the double but the shooter went through. We only got one where it looked like we were going to get two. That was an unlucky break," admitted Gushue following the loss which left his team 2-2 at the last stop on the World Curling Tour.
Following a blanked fifth end, the sixth end wasn't any better for Gushue and mates. Third Mark Nichols first rock missed its target, his second picked again in almost the same place as the fourth end.
"Mark made a honey of a shot to get out of it then about four or five feet short of the rock it picked again and left it wide open. Then (Simmons) made a nice hit and roll lying four and we were just kind of bailing to get out of it."
They didn't get out if it and Simmons made a precise double to score five.
Even Simmons attested the Newfoundland team got some bad breaks.
"As a player on both sides you don't like to see that stuff. That's the bottom line," said Simmons who will move on to tonight's quarterfinals. "You don't want games to be decided on that. They had a few really unfortunate ones that would have changed things, we'd still be playing right now.
"But that's curling."
Gushue, who insists the score was not indicative of the way the team played, says the only frustrating thing is playing well but, because of unfortunate breaks, not having the chance to play the full eight ends.
"It's more disappointing to have those happen and have it out of your hands as opposed to just missing shots and then you can blame yourself for throwing a bad rock. When you throw them good and they look good and essentially their made shots, to have that happens just sucks.
"What we have to take out of it is that we played well enough to give ourselves a chance, and if we can do that again tomorrow morning maybe the breaks might go for us."
The loss leaves Gushue, Nichols, Chris Schille and Dave Noftall with one more game, this morning versus Richmond's Greg McAulay. McAulay beat Gushue 8-5 on the tournament's opening day.
And a loss today would be mean the end for the team.
But Gushue maintains the extra game today is not necessarily a bad thing.
"A lot of winners of these types of events come through the seeds because they get that extra game where the pressure is on and that extra game to get the feel of the ice. It's not a positive thing, and if you're guaranteed to win the game, it's probably the way most teams would choose to go.
Gushue takes on McAulay in draw 15, starting at 8:20 a.m.
koliver@thetelegram.com
Big end costly for Gushue
Brad Gushue and his St. John's rink were a win away from advancing from the quarterfinals at the Tylenol Players' Championship Friday night at Mile One Centre but were handed a 7-2 loss by Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons after the western rink recorded a 5-end
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Published on
April 19, 2008
- Published on June 30, 2010
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Kenn Oliver
Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons scores five in five for win
After capturing a morning Draw 10 victory over Jeff Stoughton 8-5, Brad Gushue and his St. John's rink were a win away from advancing from the quarterfinals at the Tylenol Players' Championship Friday night at Mile One Centre.
Facing Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons on sheet E Friday evening, Gushue et al were handed a 7-2 loss after the western rink recorded a 5-ender in the fifth.
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Comments
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- Barry
- - July 2, 2010 at 15:04:19
Looks good on Brad. I hope this gets his head out of the clouds and brings him back down to earth.
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- Don
- - July 2, 2010 at 15:03:33
You need Korab back on your team Brad. You are missing a key component and Jamie can be a big asset.
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- ED
- - July 2, 2010 at 14:49:52
GOOD ,he won to many games this week .
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- Little-ender
- - July 2, 2010 at 14:47:50
I don't think I've ever felt good about a NL'er losing at anything. That may change today, sadly.
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- George
- - July 2, 2010 at 14:41:41
Hes not as good as he once was.
But as good once as he ever was. -
- Barry
- - July 1, 2010 at 21:53:30
Looks good on Brad. I hope this gets his head out of the clouds and brings him back down to earth.
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- Don
- - July 1, 2010 at 21:52:14
You need Korab back on your team Brad. You are missing a key component and Jamie can be a big asset.
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- ED
- - July 1, 2010 at 21:32:12
GOOD ,he won to many games this week .
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- Little-ender
- - July 1, 2010 at 21:28:47
I don't think I've ever felt good about a NL'er losing at anything. That may change today, sadly.
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- George
- - July 1, 2010 at 21:18:23
Hes not as good as he once was.
But as good once as he ever was.
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