February 11…Newfoundland and Labrador’s Brad Gushue won the Labatt Tankard in Labrador City on Sunday, defeating the home town favourite Keith Ryan, 7-3 in the final.

Ryan had finished first in the 10-team round robin with an 8-1 mark, to advance to the final, while Gushue, at 7-2, went to the semi-final, where he then defeated Alex Smith of St. John’s, 8-4.

In the final, Gushue cracked the game open with four in the fourth and went to the fifth end break with a 6-2 lead.

Now representing the Bally Haly Golf & Curling Club of St. John’s, Gushue will be making his fifth Brier appearance.  He skipped Newfoundland and Labrador in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007, when he finished second to Ontario’s Glenn Howard at the Tim Hortons Brier in Hamilton.

Third Mark Nichols was also a member of those Brier teams, as well as Gushue’s third when they won an Olympic gold medal in Pinerolo, Italy in 2006, defeating Finland’s Markku Uusipaavalniemi in the final.   Gushue and Nichols also collaborated to win the 2001 Canadian and world junior titles.

Second Chris Schille joined the team last year in making his first Brier appearance, while lead David Noftall is a newcomer who will be making his Brier debut, although he was alternate at two previous Briers, in 1998 for Nova Scotia and in 2006 for Newfoundland and Labrador.

Newfoundland has one Brier win to its credit, that in 1976 by Jack MacDuff in Regina.

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