Gushue 2-0 with Bottcher at Pan Continental; Homan begins with a win

LACOMBE, Alta. — Canada's Brad Gushue opened the Pan Continental curling championship with a 10-3 win over South Korea's Jaebeom Lee on Sunday. He then rocked Ken Hsu's Chinese Taipei team in the evening draw 17-1 and shared top spot in the eight-team A Division men's round robin.

Gushue is chasing a third straight gold medal in this event but is doing so with a different team. Brendan Bottcher has replaced E.J. Harnden at second.

Vice-skip Mark Nichols and lead Geoff Walker round out the squad, with Adam Casey as the alternate. Bottcher finished his opening game at 82 per cent and followed up in the evening draw with a 100 per cent score.

Both Gushue and Walker were 100 per cent while Nichols was at 86 per cent.

The two teams traded singles in the first and second ends before Gushue drew for two in the third. The Canadians then earned a steal of two in the fourth.

After registering another steal in the fifth for a 6-1 lead, Gushue made a short raise takeout for four in the seventh, ending the match.

In the evening game, Canada counted three in the first, stole five in the second, counted a deuce in the fourth, stole one in the fifth and then stole six in the sixth and it was handshake time against the winless Chinese Taipei quartet.

In women's action, Canada's Rachel Homan earned a 9-2 victory over American Cory Thiesse in the first contest for both teams. Homan took control immediately with three in the first end before making it 6-0 with three more in the third.

After the Americans scored singles in the fourth and fifth ends, Homan added three more in the sixth to end the contest.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 27, 2024.