Gushue triumphs over Mouat in curling’s National final; Fleury bounced by Hasselborg

THE CANADIAN PRESS

CHESTERMERE, Alta. – Canadian Brad Gushue won the Grand Slam of Curling’s Na- tional on Sunday while Tracy Fleury dropped the women’s final.

Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., captured his 12th career Grand Slam title by defeating Scot- land’s Bruce Mouat 5-2 in the men’s final.

Gushue, third Mark Nichols, second Brett Gallant and Geoff Walker won $33,000.

The three-time Canadian champion Gushue outshot Mouat 94-41 and finished the tournament undefeated at 6-0.

“It’s nice to pull it out,” Gushue said. “It was a tough battle. Bruce and his team have been playing so well over the last year. It took our best game of the week and fortunately, we picked a good time to do it.

“We were really solid. Mark’s played great all week and that continued today. Both Brett and I stepped up our game today (Sunday) and Geoff played well again.”

Gushue advanced to the final with a 5-2 victory over Calgary’s Kevin Koe in the semifinal Saturday.

Later, Fleury of East St. Paul, Man., lost the women’s final 9-6 in an extra end to Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg at the Chestermere Recreation Centre.

Fleury, third Selena Njegovan, second Liz Fyfe and lead Kristin MacCuish won $20,000.

Team Fleury had a perfect 5-0 record entering Sunday’s final after eliminating Kelsey Rocque of Edmonton 6-3 in the semifinal.