In front of an electric, sold-out crowd, Canada’s team Gushue swept their way to an 8-5 victory last night against Sweden.
“That was a really fun game to be a part of, thank you Ottawa. That was some cool moments out there, to be honest, one of the most memorable nights of my curling career,” Brad Gushue said.
At one point, Gushue put up four points at the end of the fifth end to take the lead, and the crowd was heard chanting his name, “Gushue, Gushue, Gushue!”
“It was really loud. It was awesome. It was really fun, you know, when I made a couple of those shots and they were chanting my name, the crowd was going crazy, I tried to take an extra moment and just look up and enjoy it. You know, how many more opportunities are we going to get like this? So, just trying to soak it up and have fun with it,” Gushue said.
Throughout the week, TD Place Arena has been crowded with curling fans, most of them there to cheer on Canada, with I being the host team.
Earlier this week, Gushue’s family arrived into town, including his sister, Natasha Tipple.
“This is the first even we’ve been at since the 2017 Brier, for us. It’s nice to see it live, cause we do watch a lot of it on tv, so the atmosphere is completely different, and it’s just nice to be in the front row, kind of thing,” Tipple said on being at the games.
Among the atmosphere, some fans have been coming to the games dressed up in costume to cheer on Canada.
On Thursday, Darcie, Cheryl, Maggie and Vivian were in attendance dressed as nuns, with prop bibles saying “Sisters on the Rocks.”
The women came down from Winnipeg, and this year is Darcie and Maggie’s 20th anniversary of following the sport.
“We do curling, and we just decided to come watch in 2003 in Halifax,” Darcie said.
“It kind of started as an innocent girl’s getaway, and taking a sport that we like, we did it that first time, and we were hooked just meeting so many awesome people and watching some great curling,” Maggie said.
At the game yesterday, another fan, Ellen, was dressed head to toe in a red dress reminiscent to that worn by the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland.
Ellen has been a fan of curling for about five to seven years now, and loves to watch her daughter, who has been curling for about the same amount of time.
“Just the play from all the teams, not just Canada, but the advantage of four pads of ice. You can watch all the pads, and it’s just amazing curling from all of the teams,” Ellen said on enjoying the tournament.
As the qualifiers and semi-finals begin today, the crowds inside TD Place will continue to be sold out as Canada looks to beat Sweden again today to move into the semi-finals.
“Any team knows that if we play our game, we’re going to be tough to beat,” Gushue said.
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