Team Gushue’s path to gold at the World Men’s Curling Championship
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For the fourth time since 2017, Brad Gushue and his team from St. John’s, N.L., will don the Maple Leaf at the World Men’s Curling Championship.
Team Canada – featuring Gushue at skip, Mark Nichols at third, E.J. Harnden at second and Geoff Walker at lead – will begin their gold rush Saturday afternoon from TD Place in Ottawa.
Brad Gushue at the Worlds
After winning their first Tim Hortons Brier in their home province in 2017, Gushue and company continued their momentum at the men’s worlds in Edmonton, putting together a perfect 13-0 week with a win over Sweden’s Team Niklas Edin in the gold-medal game.
A year later in Las Vegas, Edin would even the score with Gushue, beating him in the final, 7-3.
Gushue’s next Canadian title came in 2020, but that year’s world championship – scheduled to take place in Glasgow, Scotland – was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Brad Gushue and Mark Nichols Team Gushue captured the Tankard once again in 2022 and would meet Team Edin in the worlds final for the third time as the Swedish superpower won their fourth consecutive title with an 8-6 win in Vegas.
Now, the foursome from The Rock will look to bring the world curling crown back to a country that is hungry and desperate to taste international success on the pebbled ice once again.
Gushue made history earlier this month in London, Ont., when he became the first skip in history to win five Brier Tankards in his career, passing Ernie Richardson, Randy Ferbey, Kevin Martin and Kevin Koe after defeating Manitoba’s Team Matt Dunstone in the championship game.
On the season, Team Gushue, ranked fourth in the world, holds a 38-9 record with wins at the National, Pan Continental Curling Championship and Brier.
Brad Gushue Tankards
Last season marked the end of a decade-long run for second Brett Gallant after he moved to Alberta and joined forces with Brendan Bottcher’s rink. Northern Ontario curler Harnden joined Team Gushue after spending his entire career playing for Brad Jacobs in Sault Ste. Marie.
E.J.’s brother, Ryan, who serves as Dunstone’s lead, will be the alternate for Team Gushue in the nation’s capital while Caleb Flaxey will coach. The Harnden brothers earned silver with Team Jacobs at the 2013 worlds in Victoria, marking the first of Edin's six world championships.
Following a 12-game round robin, the top six rinks will battle in the playoffs with the top two seeds earning byes to the semifinals.
The final goes next Sunday night.
Let’s take a closer look at Canada’s path to gold at the World Men’s Curling Championship, running April 1-9.
Men's Worlds Field
Game 1 – Switzerland (Team Yannick Schwaller)
Yannick Schwaller
Saturday, April 1 at 2pm ET on TSN, TSN.ca and TSN App
Lineup
Fourth: Benoît Schwarz
Skip: Yannick Schwaller
Second: Sven Michel
Lead: Pablo Lachat
Breakdown
The Canadians have a very difficult opening day at the World Men’s Curling Championship, and it starts with a matinee clash against Switzerland.
Yannick Schwaller, 27, took over skip duties for the rink that was previously captained by Peter De Cruz this season and the Geneva foursome have been one of the most consistent teams on Tour.
Team Schwaller, which sees Yannick throwing third stones and Benoit Schwarz tossing last rocks, have won four events in 2022-23 including the Swiss Curling Championships in February.
They made the final of the European Curling Championships in November, losing to Scotland’s Team Bruce Mouat, and own a 10-10 record at four Grand Slams.
Schwaller will be competing in just his second world championship after leading his old rink to the playoffs last year in Las Vegas with a 6-6 round-robin showing. They would drop their quarterfinal clash against Italy’s Team Joel Retornaz.
Schwarz and second Sven Michel have plenty of experience on this stage as this will be their seventh appearance. The 31-year-old Schwarz will look to change the colour of his medal in Ottawa as he owns four bronze medals from the men’s worlds (2014, 2017, 2019 and 2021) and bronze from the 2018 Olympics in South Korea.
This will be a difficult matchup for Team Gushue to kick things off as you can expect the Swiss to be in the top six once championship weekend rolls around.
Not to mention the momentum they’ll be carrying after watching countrywomen Team Silvana Tirinzoni capture an incredible fourth straight gold medal at the World Women’s Curling Championship in Sweden on March 26.
Game 2 – Italy (Team Joel Retornaz)
Team Joel Retornaz
Saturday, April 1 at 7pm ET on TSN, TSN.ca and TSN App
Lineup
Skip: Joel Retornaz
Third: Amos Mosaner
Second: Sebastiano Arman
Lead: Mattia Giovanella
Breakdown
Nearly 20 years ago, Joel Retornaz managed to pull off a major upset over Brad Gushue, Mark Nichols and the rest of Team Canada at the 2006 Winter Olympics on home soil in Torino, Italy.
The 7-6 extra end victory was just one of three games Gushue lost en route to a memorable gold-medal performance.
A lot has changed since then.
In 2023, a Retornaz win over Gushue would not be a surprise at all. In fact, the Italians come into Canada’s capital as gold-medal contenders. The Italian curling program has grown exceptionally from a competitive standpoint during the past few years, highlighted by Amos Mosaner – Retornaz’s third – and Stefania Constantini capturing mixed-doubles gold at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.
A month later, Team Retornaz won the country’s first medal at the men’s worlds, beating the Americans in the bronze-medal game. Then earlier this month, Constantini skipped Italy’s women’s team to the playoffs at the World Women’s Curling Championship.
The foursome from Trentino have only gotten better in 2022-23 with a 61-19 record, highlighted by six final appearances and four wins, including Italy’s first-ever Grand Slam victory at the Masters in December.
Their strong play has earned them the No. 3 spot on the world rankings, behind Niklas Edin and Matt Dunstone.
Gushue took their lone matchup of the season, a close 6-5 decision at the Canadian Open in January.
Italy will be contenders in Ottawa as Retornaz makes his ninth appearance at the world championships.
Game 3 – New Zealand (Team Anton Hood)
Anton Hood
Sunday, April 2 at 2pm ET on TSN, TSN.ca and the TSN App
Lineup
Skip: Anton Hood
Third: Ben Smith
Second: Brett Sargon
Lead: Hunter Walker
Breakdown
The Kiwis will be making their sixth appearance at the men’s worlds and first since 2012 when they had their best result, finishing with a 7-4 round-robin record before losing to Sweden in a playoff tiebreaker.
This year’s crew – skipped by Anton Hood – qualified via the inaugural Pan Continental Curling Championship earlier this season in Calgary.
New Zealand made its debut at the women’s worlds earlier this month and went winless.
Canada will be the heavy favourites in this Sunday afternoon contest.
Game 4 – Norway (Team Magnus Ramsfjell)
Magnus Ramsfjell
Sunday, April 2 at 7pm ET on TSN, TSN.ca and the TSN App
Lineup
Skip: Magnus Ramsfjell
Third: Martin Sesaker
Second: Bendik Ramsfjell
Lead: Gaute Nepstad
Breakdown
For the second straight year, Trondheim’s Magnus Ramsfjell will skip Norway at the men’s worlds.
Last year, Ramsfjell led the same crew that he’ll have in Ottawa to a 5-7 record, losing to Gushue, 8-7, in the round robin.
The 25-year-old and his foursome have been busy this year with 12 events under their belts, including an impressive five finals and three wins. They also made the semis of the Masters on the Grand Slam circuit where they fell to Scotland’s Team Bruce Mouat.
Gushue squared off with Ramsfjell at the Masters in December, beating him 7-4. Edin, meanwhile, has a 5-0 record against Ramsfjell in 2022-23.
Norway will likely be a middle-of-the-pack team at the men’s worlds that could contend for a playoff spot if they can figure out how to upset some of the top dogs.
Game 5 – Japan (Team Riku Yanagisawa)
Riku Yanagisawa
Monday, April 3 at 2pm ET on TSN, TSN.ca and the TSN App
Lineup
Skip: Riku Yanagisawa
Third: Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi
Second: Takeru Yamamoto
Lead: Satoshi Koizumi
Breakdown
After back-to-back doubleheader days, Canada will get consecutive single game days to begin the work week.
At just 21, Riku Yanagisawa will be the youngest skip at this year’s world championship.
Team Yanagisawa, who own a 59-24 record in 2022-23, qualified Japan for this event after finishing fourth at the Pan-Continental Championships in November.
They are 4-3 in final appearances this season, highlighted by a victory at the Japan Curling Championship in early February.
Yanagisawa and company lost both of their contests to Team Gushue by a combined score of 19-4 this season.
If their clashes earlier this campaign are any indication, Canada will have the significant edge in this game.
Game 6 – Czech Republic (Team Lukáš Klíma)
Lukas Klima
Tuesday, April 4 at 2pm ET on TSN, TSN.ca and the TSN App
Lineup
Skip: Lukáš Klíma
Third: Marek Černovský
Second: Radek Boháč
Lead: Martin Jurík
Breakdown
Lukáš Klíma is bringing back nearly the same lineup that went 5-7 at last year’s World Men’s Curling Championship in Las Vegas, including a 6-4 loss to Team Gushue.
The 32-year-old Klíma will make his third career appearance at the world championship.
Team Klíma have qualified in only two of seven events this season and posted a 3-6 record at the European Curling Championship.
Czech Republic will likely be in tough to make the final six in Ottawa.
Game 7 – South Korea (Team Jeong Byeong-jin)
Byeongin Jeong
Wednesday, April 5 at 9am ET on TSN, TSN.ca and the TSN App
Lineup
Skip: Jeong Byeong-jin
Third: Lee Jeong-jae
Second: Kim Min-woo
Lead: Kim Tae-hwan
Breakdown
Jeong Byeong-jin, 26, played lead in his only prior appearance at the men’s worlds in 2019 and will now skip the South Koreans this year in Ottawa.
Team Jeong won the Korean Curling Championships back in June to kick off the 2022-23 season and have posted a total record of 44-17 over 13 events.
Gushue’s rink defeated Team Jeong twice at the Pan-Continental Championship, including the gold-medal game, with identical 11-3 scores.
South Korea’s best result at this event was in 2018 when they finished fourth.
Canada will be the favourites against South Korea.
Game 8 – United States (Team John Shuster)
John Shuster and Matt Hamilton
Wednesday, April 5 at 7pm ET on TSN, TSN.ca and the TSN App
Lineup
Skip: John Shuster
Third: Chris Plys
Second: Matt Hamilton
Lead: John Landsteiner
Breakdown
Following a string of lower-ranked opponents, Gushue and Team Canada will have to battle an Olympic champion and the 15th-ranked team in the world on Wednesday night.
American John Shuster, who captured gold at the 2018 Olympics, will make his 10th career appearance at the men’s worlds and the first in two years after defeating Team Danny Casper in the final of the United States Curling Championship.
Korey Dropkin represented the country last year in Vegas, losing to Italy in the bronze-medal game.
Shuster, 40, won bronze at the 2016 worlds, his best finish at the event.
In 2022-23, Team Shuster is an impressive 40-15 with event victories at the Penticton Curling Classic and a Curling Stadium bonspiel in Blaine, Minn.
These two skips haven’t played each other this season, but are familiar with plenty of matchups in the past. Gushue may have a slight edge here, but this could go either way.
Expect to see the Americans in the playoffs.
Game 9 – Germany (Team Sixten Totzek)
Sixten Totzek
Thursday, April 6 at 9am ET on TSN, TSN.ca and the TSN App
Lineup
Skip: Sixten Totzek
Third: Klaudius Harsch
Second: Magnus Sutor
Lead: Dominik Greindl
Breakdown
Germany’s Sixten Totzek is only 23 and yet he’ll skip his nation at the men's worlds for the third straight year.
Inside the Calgary bubble in 2021, Totzek led the Germans to a 4-9 record and followed that up with a 6-6 showing in 2022, just missing the playoffs.
They loss to Gushue, 11-7, in the round robin.
However, Totzek has a new third and second for this year’s event with Klaudius Harsch and Magnus Sutor joining the squad.
It’s been a struggle at times for Team Totzek in 2022-23, posting a 15-25 record and only qualifying for the playoffs in two of seven events.
They’ll need to find their form from last year’s worlds if they want a chance at the playoffs.
Game 10 – Scotland (Team Bruce Mouat)
Bruce Mouat
Thursday, April 6 at 7pm ET on TSN, TSN.ca and the TSN App
Lineup
Skip: Bruce Mouat
Third: Grant Hardie
Second: Bobby Lammie
Lead: Hammy McMillan Jr.
Breakdown
It will be another heavyweight tilt at TD Place for Team Gushue on Thursday night.
The Canadians finish the penultimate day of round-robin play the World Men’s Curling Championship with a game against Scotland’s Team Bruce Mouat, who will make their first appearance at the bonspiel in two years.
Mouat’s best finishes at the men’s words was a silver medal in 2021 as well as bronze in 2018.
The No. 6-ranked team in the world have put together a strong season after losing a heartbreaker to Team Edin in the gold-medal game at the Olympics last year.
The Scots from Stirling are 44-14 on the season with wins at the European Curling Championship – their third time winning the event – as well as the Mercure Perth Masters and Scottish Curling Championship.
Gushue holds a 3-1 record against Mouat this season. Mouat topped Gushue in the round-robin finale at the 2022 Olympics.
Scotland has won 35 total medals at the men’s worlds, which ranks second all-time, 20 behind Canada. They own five golds, but haven’t won it all since 2009 when David Murdoch – Curling Canada’s new high-performance director – beat Kevin Martin in a memorable, but infamous final from Moncton.
At this point of the tournament both sides could be close to securing spots in the playoffs, if they haven’t already, and may be looking to grab one of the top two seeds and a bye to the semi-final.
It’s always a fun time when these two skips get together and it shouldn’t be any different here.
Game 11 – Turkey (Team Uğurcan Karagöz)
Friday, April 7 at 9am ET on TSN, TSN.ca and the TSN App
Lineup
Skip: Uğurcan Karagöz
Third: Muhammet Haydar Demirel
Second: Muhammed Zeki Uçan
Lead: Orhun Yüce
Breakdown
Team Turkey will make their debut at the World Men’s Curling Championship after going 4-5 at the Euros.
Team Uğurcan Karagöz have some strong results this season on Tour, including two final appearances and a win at the Belgium Men’s Challenge.
The Turks will likely finish near the bottom of the standings, although their women’s team went 6-6 in just their second appearance at the women’s worlds earlier this month, so we’ll see if the men can put up similar results in Ottawa.
Game 12 – Sweden (Team Niklas Edin)
Niklas Edin Sweden
Friday, April 7 at 7pm ET on TSN, TSN.ca and the TSN App
Lineup
Skip: Niklas Edin
Third: Oskar Eriksson
Second: Rasmus Wranå
Lead: Christoffer Sundgren
Breakdown
The perfect playoff primer.
Gushue caps the round robin with a Friday night heavyweight tilt against his biggest international adversary.
Led by six-time world champion Niklas Edin, the Swedes will be going for their fifth consecutive world title in Ottawa.
Gushue beat Edin in the 2017 men’s worlds final, but the 37-year-old from Karlstad has had his number ever since on the world stage. Edin topped Gushue in the 2018 and 2022 world finals as well as the 2022 Olympic semi-final en route to gold.
All-time, Gushue has won 23 of 38 matchups against Edin.
In 2022-23, the St. John’s native has lost three of four games against Edin with the lone win coming in the final of the National on the Grand Slam circuit.
Edin missed considerable time earlier this season after undergoing knee surgery in November. Still, the rink which ranks No. 1 in the world, owns a 67-14 record with eight final appearances and six wins over 12 total events.
If the skip can stay healthy all week long, the Swedes will be the team to beat once again at the world championship.
Settle in for what could be a gold-medal preview to close the round robin.