KELOWNA, B.C. – Defending champion Brad Gushue of Canada advanced to the men’s final at the 2023 Pan Continental Curling Championships with an 8-3 win over Andrew Stopera of the United States on Friday.
Gushue’s team from St. John’s, N.L., which also includes vice-skip Mark Nichols, second E.J. Harnden and lead Geoff Walker, broke open a close game with three points in the ninth end and stole two more in the 10th to seal the win.
Canada’s opportunity came in the ninth when a stone from Stopera failed to make the hog line and was removed from play.
Nichols made a takeout, which distributed three Canadian stones across the house. American fourth-rock thrower Korey Dropkin missed a couple of double-takeout attempts, and Gushue had an open draw for three.
“Fortunately for us, we got that hogged rock on Andrew’s shot and that gave us a good opportunity to score two,” Gushue said. “Then we were fortunate to get three because you don’t often see Korey miss two doubles, so we were a little lucky on that one.”
Canada will face South Korea’s Jongduk Park for gold on Saturday. Park defeated Japan’s Riku Yanagisawa 8-7 in the other semifinal.
Canada and South Korea faced off in the first round-robin game of the week, with South Korea coming away with an 8-5 win.
“We want to be in that game. We play Korea, so we get an opportunity to play them again,” Gushue said. “We had a rough game against them the first game, so hopefully, we can give them our best and see how it turns out.”
Later Friday, Canada’s Kerri Einarson faced Tabitha Peterson of the United States in the women’s bronze-medal game.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 3, 2023.
