Defending champ Gushue ousted from Olympic contention

Canwest News Service

A new men's Olympic curling champion will be crowned in February.

Brad Gushue of St. John's, N.L., who won gold at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, was eliminated Friday from the Road to the Roar pre-Olympic trials event in Prince George, B.C.

Gushue lost his third straight game at the triple-knockout event, falling 7-5 to Jean-Michel Menard of St. Romuald, Que.

"We made some mistakes in that fourth end and Jean-Michel's guys made everything," said Gushue, who fell behind 5-2 at that point and never really recovered.

"They just kept making great shots to take everything away. It's one of those games, if you play that well you win 100 per cent of the games you play but . . . they just played better."

Menard will next face Wayne Middaugh of Toronto in Saturday's C-side semifinal. The winner will meet Bob Ursel of Kelowna, B.C., who dispatched Edmonton's Ted Appelman 6-5 in their semi Friday night, for a berth at the Olympic trials, being held Dec. 6-13 in Edmonton.

Pat Simmons from Davidson, Sask., secured the second men's berth at the trials with a 7-5 victory over Winnipeg's Mike McEwen in the B-side final late Friday.

McEwen, who knocked off Appelman 7-4 in their 'B' semi Friday morning, will take on Jason Gunnlaugson for the final slot. Gunnlaugson's rink, from Beausejour, Man., advanced with a 9-7 win over Winnipeg's Kerry Burtnyk on Friday night.

Jeff Stoughton earned the first spot Thursday after edging the 10th-ranked Simmons 8-7 in an extra end.

In women's play, Krista McCarville of Thunder Bay, Ont., booked her ticket to the trials by posting a 6-3 win Friday over Kelly Scott of Kelowna, B.C.

Scott will have a third and final shot a berth to the main trials on Saturday when she meets Toronto's Sherry Middaugh. Scott also lost the A-side final to Calgary's Crystal Webster on Thursday.

Middaugh advanced with an 7-4 win over Heather Rankin of Calgary on Friday.

Amber Holland of Kronau, Sask., who beat Cathy King of Edmonton 10-4 on Friday, can secure a berth in Edmonton with a C-side victory Saturday against third-ranked Marie-France Larouche of St-Romuald. Larouche ousted Ottawa's Rachel Homan with an 8-7 win late Friday night.

Earlier Friday, Homan ended Sherry Anderson's hopes for a third straight Olympic trials berth, defeating the Saskatoon skip 8-2 in the C-side quarter-finals.