Brad Gushue and his team from the Remax Centre (St. John’s Curling Club) hope to make it two championships in a row inside the Atlantic Bubble this weekend in Halifax.
Another win would actually make it three straight championships for Gushue.
His team won the Dave Jones Stanhope Simpson Insurance Cashspiel last weekend at the Mayflower Curling Club, its first event since taking the Tim Hortons Brier last spring in Kingston, Ont. (their third in four years). Team Gushue returns to Nova Scotia for the Stu Sells 1824 Halifax Classic starting today at the Halifax Curling Club.
There are actually five teams from St. John’s curling in this weekend’s event. Joining Gushue from the Remax Centre are the Andrew Symonds team which includes third Chris Ford, second Daniel Bruce and lead Keith Jewer, Team Colin Thomas (vice skip Stephen Truckett, Zach Young and Mike Mosher) and the Trent Skanes foursome (Cory Schuh, Adam Boland and Spencer Wicks). Also slated to curl in Halifax, from the Bally Haly Curling Club in St. John’s, is Greg Smith’s team which includes Greg Blyde, Winnipeg native Braeden Zawada and Evan McDonah.
Comprising Team Gushue are vice skip Mark Nichols, Brett Gallant and lead Geoff Walker.
But for the second straight weekend, Walker is unable to travel and his spot will be taken by one of the province’s top young curlers.
Walker, who lives in Edmonton, is unable to join the team because of the Atlantic Bubble. Last weekend, Labrador City native Joel Krats helped Team Gushue win the Dave Jones event.
This weekend, Stephenville’s Ryan McNeil-Lamswood gets the nod to curl in Halifax.
McNeil-Lamswood was third on the Daniel Bruce-skipped team at the Canadian junior championship in Langley, B.C. last January, while Krats threw second stone.
The team, which also included lead Nathan King, reached the national final before losing to Manitoba’s Jacques Gauthier.
McNeil-Lamswood, along with King, was a second-team all-star in Langley.
The provincial junior championship this season was McNeil-Lamswood’s fifth — one shy of Gushue for all-time record — to go with an all-Newfoundland under-18 crown as a skip in 2018.
“Gushue is Gushue, one of the best in the world,” said the junior team’s coach, Dennis Bruce. “But the fact that Ryan, out of Stephenville, has five provincial junior titles is pretty bloody amazing. That’s five championships with four different teams.”
McNeil-Lamswood also won a national USports silver medal in 2019 with the Memorial Sea-Hawks, and is a two-time provincial Under-18 champ.
Gushue and Smith meet 5 p.m. today, while Symonds plays Skanes in another all-Newfoundland and Labrador clash today at 5 p.m. Thomas plays Stuart Thompson of Halifax 8:30 tonight.
Sixteen teams are curling in Halifax this weekend, a triple knockout event for a $20,000 purse. The first place team receives $6,000.