You can’t blame Brad Gushue and his teammates for hating to see October end.
Gushue’s St. John’s rink ran its winning streak to 20 games Sunday, defeating Niklas Edin’s Swedish foursome 8-4 in the final of the Masters, a Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event in Lloydminster, Sask.
Gushue, third Mark Nichols, second Brett Gallant and lead Geoff Walker are undefeated in October, with the defending world men’s champions going 16-0 in winning three events during the month.
The run began with three victories on Oct. 1 in the playoff round of the Swiss Cup Basel (they had won their four preliminary-round games of the event, which began Sept. 28). Gushue and Co. followed up by running the table at the Stu Sells Toronto Tankard Oct. 5-9, winning six games in the process. A couple of weekends off didn’t cool down the hot streak as Gushue and his teammates went 7-0 in Lloydminster, including a 7-1 win over two-time world champion Kevin Koe in Saturday’s semifinal round, followed by Sunday’s victory over Edin in what was a rematch of last year’s world men’s championship final.
So far this season, Gushue and his teammates have a 29-3 record and three titles — the rink was 7-0 in taking the first Grand Slam event, the Tour Challenge. Their only losses came in September as they finished 2-3 at the Shorty Jenkins Classic, where they didn’t make the playoffs.
Overall, Gushue’s team has outscored its opponents 216-111 or by an almost a 2-1 margin.
Their win Sunday also solidified their lead in the World Curling Tour’s team rankings, where Edin sits second.
Those rinks are also are 1-2 on the money earnings list this season, with Gushue and his teammates having accrued over $70,000. That doesn’t include $7,500 won by Gallant and partner Jocelyn Peterman as runners-up of the CanadInns mixed doubles championship, or Gushue’s share of a winner-take-all $200,000 at the inaugural Everest Challenge in Fredericton, N.B., where a pre-event draft meant he, Nichols, Gallant and Walker played on different teams.
