Brad Gushue guaranteed himself at least a tie-breaker with a clutch 5-3 win over Switzerland’s Peter de Cruz at the Boost National Grand Slam of Curling championship Thursday night.
In front of a loud full house at the C.B.S. Arena, and before a live national television audience, Gushue improved to 2-1 to sit in second place in Pool B.
Gushue meets Scotland’s Bruce Mouat, who’s on top of the pool at 3-0, 4:30 p.m. Friday. A win over Mouat would guarantee Gushue, Mark Nichols, Brett Gallant and Geoff Walker a quarter-final berth.
Leading 4-3 without last shot in the eighth end (Grand Slam events are eight ends as opposed to 10), Gushue’s shot rock was guarded, leaving Benoit Schwarz, who throws last rocks for de Cruz’s team, with a tough runback on his final stone, which he missed.
That left Gushue with a steal of one and the game, much to the delight of the pro-Gushue crowd.
