The Canadian Press
Gregory Strong
EDMONTON–Canada’s Brad Gushue won 2006 Olympic gold in a blowout.
His first Brier title last month was a nail-biter.
The St. John’s skip went the patient route for the latest title of his glittering curling career.
Gushue waited until the ninth end to strike in a 4-2 victory over Niklas Edin last night.
The game’s first deuce gave Gushue the lead, then he ran Sweden out of rocks in the 10th for his first world men’s championship.
“I’ve been a curling fan for a long time,” Gushue said. “And not to toot our horn, but I’ve got to give my team credit.
“That was a pretty dominant performance for the whole week.”
Gushue, third Mark Nichols, second Brett Gallant, and lead Geoff Walker swept the 11-game round robin and then beat Edin twice in the playoffs.
The Canadians also swept the all-star awards and became the first rink to go undefeated at this event since Winnipeg’s Kerry Burtnyk in 1995.
Gushue is the first skip to do it in the 12-team era.
“I really focused on my mental game, and just thought about this moment and the Brier for a long time,” he noted.
“For it to come true shows the power of mind, I guess. It’s incredible.”
In the ninth, Gushue drew to the four-foot ring to score the pair.
He kept up his strong play in the 10th with a double take-out on his first throw.
Gushue raised his arms in triumph as his final stone approached the hogline before hitting the Swedish rock for the victory.
“It’s awesome,” Gushue enthused.
“That was a stressful game,” he added. “Niklas and his team played so well. You have to give them credit.
“They’re one of the best teams in the world.
“It took everything we had to beat them tonight,” he stressed.
Edin, who lost to Gushue in the Page playoff 1-2 game Friday night, got another crack at him after beating Switzerland’s Peter de Cruz in the semi-final Saturday.
The two-time world champion had some stones under-curl late in the game and it proved costly.
“We were still behind the whole game, and we needed to get something good to happen for us and we didn’t do that,” Edin noted.
“Congrats to the better team for the win.”
Gushue, who missed the first few months of the season with a left hip/groin injury, wrote his name in the history books with the victory.
He’s the first skip to win gold at the world juniors (2001), Winter Olympics, and the world men’s championship.
“The biggest thing is we’re writing it in as world champions,” Gushue said.
“And this team, we’re world champions after all the work we’ve put in over the last couple years.
“The commitments, the sacrifices, and ups and downs that we had, to be here right now is awesome,” he added.
Earlier in the day, de Cruz defeated American John Shuster 7-5 to win bronze.
The Swiss side took control with a four-ender in the seventh end.
“We’re happy with where we are,” de Cruz said.
“Now we have to try and learn how to beat the very best.”
