The Matt Blandford foursome put a chink in the armour of Brad Gushue's rink Thursday at the Labatt Tankard provincial men's curling championship at the Bally Haly Golf and Curling Club in St. John's, defeating the three-time defending champions 8-7 in 11 ends.
In Thursday's afternoon draw, after Gushue tied the game with a score of two in the 10th end, Blandford used the hammer to score one and seal the victory, handing the Gushue rink its first loss of the tournament.
The result put Blandford and his teammates into sole possession of first place, at least for a few hours.
The rink out of Re/Max Centre in St. John's suffered its first loss later in the day, falling 6-5 to the Carol Curling Club (Labrador City) team of Jeff Staples, Brian Mercer, Gary Furlong and Laurie Whidden.
Gushue, who curls out of Bally Haly and is looking for his seventh provincial men's championship overall, bounced back in the late draw with an 8-5 win over Andrew Symonds, and regained the lead atop the standings at 5-1.
Blandford and Bally Haly's Alex Smith - who meet each other today - are tied for second at 4-1.
The top three teams after the final round-robin draw Saturday morning (and barring any tie-breakers) will advance to the weekend playoffs, with the second- and third-place finishers meeting in a Saturday semifinal.
The winner of that game meets the first-place rink in Sunday's final.
STANDINGS/RESULTS/SCHEDULE
STANDINGS
Team (Club) W L
Brad Gushue (Bally Haly) 5 1
Matt Blandford (Re/Max Ctr.) 4 1
Alex Smith (Bally Haly) 4 1
Keith Ryan (Carol C.C/Lab City) 3 3
Ken Peddigrew (Bally Haly) 2 3
Andrew Symonds (Re/Max Ctr.) 2 3
John Wheeler (Re/Max Centre) 2 4
Dean Branton (Bally Haly) 1 4
Jeff Staples (Carol C.C./Lab City) 1 4
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Note: The top three teams advance to the playoffs, with the first-place finisher earning a bye to Sunday's final
WEDNESDAY'S results
Draw 5
Smith 7, Staples 3
Wheeler 7, Peddigrew 5
Blandford 8, Gushue 7 (11 ends)
Ryan 9, Branton 4
Draw 6
Ryan 7, Wheeler 2
Gushue 8, Symonds 5
Smith 5, Branton 1
Staples 6, Blandford 5
Thursday's games
Draw 7 (1:30 p.m.)
Staples vs Peddigrew; Smith vs Wheeler; Ryan vs Blandford; Symonds vs Branton
Draw 8 (7 p.m.)
Branton vs Wheeler; Peddigrew vs Gushue; Symonds vs Staples; Smith vs Blandford
No Tankard sweep
Lead Brad Mcinnis (left) and second Jamie Danbrook of Matt Blandford's team sweep a shot by third Trent Skanes (rear) during their round-robin game against Brad Gushue's rink at the Labatt Tankard provincial men's curling championship at Bally Haly Golf a
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Published on
February 5, 2010
- Published on July 1, 2010
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Staff ~ The Telegram
Every team has at least one loss, but Gushue still leads
The Matt Blandford foursome put a chink in the armour of Brad Gushue's rink Thursday at the Labatt Tankard provincial men's curling championship at the Bally Haly Golf and Curling Club in St. John's, defeating the three-time defending champions 8-7 in 11 ends.
In Thursday's afternoon draw, after Gushue tied the game with a score of two in the 10th end, Blandford used the hammer to score one and seal the victory, handing the Gushue rink its first loss of the tournament.
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Comments
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- Marie
- - July 2, 2010 at 15:00:11
Brad and Team should be on their way to Vancouver right now to compete in the Olympics; not here in St. John's.
But they are only young, so other chances for Olympics are still in their future. -
- Marie
- - July 1, 2010 at 21:47:52
Brad and Team should be on their way to Vancouver right now to compete in the Olympics; not here in St. John's.
But they are only young, so other chances for Olympics are still in their future.
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