Brad Gushue

Brad Gushue
Curler
Team
Curling club	Bally Haly Golf & Curling Club, St. John's
Skip	Brad Gushue
Third	Mark Nichols
Second	Ryan Fry
Lead	Jamie Korab
Curling career
Brier appearances	7 (2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
Top CTRS ranking	4th (2008–09)
Grand Slam victories	1: The National (2010)

best curler in canada named in 2010"kevin martin is second best "Brad" Gushue, ONL (born June 16, 1980 in St. John's, Newfoundland) is a Canadian curler from Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador. Gushue along with teammates Russ Howard, Mark Nichols, Jamie Korab and Mike Adam represented Canada in curling in the 2006 Winter Olympics, where they won the gold medal by defeating Finland 10–4, including a dramatic 6-point sixth end in the final match, which was conceded after the 8-end minimum stipulated under Olympic rules.

Gushue is a six-time (1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001) provincial junior curling champion in his home province of Newfoundland and Labrador, the last five as skip. In 2001, he not only won the provincial championship, but the national championship and world junior championships as well. Gushue was also the alternate for John Morris at the 1998 World Junior Championships which Morris won.

After his outstanding career as a junior, Gushue made an impressive transition into men's curling and his team quickly became a competitive force. Gushue qualified for the 2003 Nokia Brier where he finished with a 6–5 record. By the 2004 Nokia Brier, Gushue proved not only was he one of the best curlers in Newfoundland, but one of the best in Canada, when his team finished with an 8–4 record. The following year, Gushue qualified for the 2005 Tim Hortons Brier where his team once again finished 6–5.

In May 2005, Gushue brought in former world champion Russ Howard as fifth man on the team, in order to bring experience and advice for the Canadian Olympic trials. Shortly afterwards, second Mike Adam volunteered to step aside for Howard, as the team felt that Howard's skills and experience gave them the best chance to make it to the Olympics. Howard, playing as second, was given the right to call the team's shots as a skip would, but would defer to Gushue for the final word on calls. (Under international rules, Howard was nominally the skip, holding the broom in the house and sweeping opponents stones behind the tee line.) The personnel change was a success, as Gushue defeated Jeff Stoughton's team in the Olympic trials final on December 11, 2005, qualifying him to represent Canada at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. At the Olympics, he defeated Finland's Markku Uusipaavalniemi in the finals to win the Gold medal.

With his teammates, Gushue became the first Newfoundlander ever to win an Olympic gold medal. Prior to the gold medal match, a provincial order allowed for the closure of all schools at noon on that day, one hour before local coverage of the event began. [1] [2]

In 2007, Gushue replaced Mike Adam with Chris Schille as second. A month following their runner-up finish at the 2007 Tim Hortons Brier in Hamilton, Gushue announced that Jamie Korab, longtime teammate, was also cut from the team. Despite a strong Brier appearance and season, Gushue said that the team seemed to lack a needed chemistry and that Korab's departure was a group decision. In 2008, David Noftall assumed the lead position but this did not prove to be a winning combination.

In April 2008, Gushue replaced his front-end for the sixth straight year: Jamie Korab rejoined the team as lead and Ryan Fry joined the team at second.

Brad Gushue

Medal record
Men's Curling
Winter Olympics
	2006 Turin
World Junior Curling Championships
	1998 Thunder Bay
	2001 Ogden
Canadian Olympic Curling Trials
	2005 Halifax
Tim Hortons Brier
	2007 Hamilton

Brier Appearances

Brad Gushue made his first showing at the Brier (Canadian Men's National Championship) in 2003, and has continued to represent Newfoundland and Laborador each year since, except in 2006 when he was unable to participate due to being at the Olympics in Italy. In 2004, Brad Gushue was named the All Star skip at the Nokia Brier. His best record ever was at the 2007 Brier in Ontario, where he finished 8–3 and earned himself a spot in the "One vs. Two" playoff game, where he beat Ontario's Glenn Howard. His team advanced to the finals, where they would have a rematch with Howard, and this time would lose. At the 2008 Brier, Gushue's team failed to make the playoffs, losing a tie-breaker to British Columbia's Bob Ursel .

Personal life

Brad Gushue is currently a Vice-President of Marketing for ACME Financial Services in St. John's, NL. Gushue married Krista Tibbo on September 8th, 2006. [3] The couple welcomed their first child, a daughter named Hayley Sophia, on October 14, 2007. She weighed 6 lbs. 14.5 ozs. [4] In 2006, Gushue co-authored a book with Alex J. Walling titled Golden Gushue: a Curling Story, which offers a behind the scenes look at the rise of his team to Olympic gold

Grand Slam Record

Brad Gushue and his team has reached the championship match of a Grand Slam event only three times. The first was in 2008 when he finished second, after losing to Wayne Middaugh in the final game of The National. In 2010, he again made it to the finals at The National, facing Randy Ferbey. Gushue won the game, earning his first Grand Slam title of his career

Event	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04	2004–05	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10
Canadian Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	Q	Q	Q	Q	QF	Q
Masters/World Cup	Q	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	Q	Q	SF	SF
The National	DNP	DNP	DNP	Q	QF	QF	Q	F	C
Players' Championships	DNP	Q	Q	F	Q	Q	Q	QF	-

Key

• C – Champion
• F – Lost final
• SF – Lost semi final
• QF – Lost quarter final
• Q – Did not make playoffs
• DNP – Did not participate in event

External links

• Team Gushue
• Golden Dream (Team Gushue fan site)
• Gushue rink takes Torino gold
• [5] Canadian Curling Association
• Brad Gushue on Real Champions