Gushue, Homan advance to Co-op Canadian Open finals

Team Gushue skip Brad Gushue delivers a stone against Team McEwen during the men's curling final at the PointsBet Invitational in Calgary on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (Jeff McIntosh / The Canadian Press)

Brad Gushue and Bruce Mouat will meet in Sunday's championship final of the Co-op Canadian Open.

Gushue's team from St. John's Newfoundland and Labrador — consisting of third Mark Nichols, second Brendan Bottcher and lead Geoff Walker — defeated Yannick Schwaller of Geneva, Switzerland 6-2 in Saturday's semifinal of the Grand Slam of Curling event.

Gushue scored a single in the second end, then had steals of one in the third and fourth ends before Schaller counted a deuce in the fifth end. Gushue struck for three in the sixth end and then ran Schwaller out of rocks.

Mouat of Stirling, Scotland defeated Joel Retornaz of Trentino, Italy 4-2 in the other semifinal.

Mouat scored a pair in the first end, stole one in the fourth and one in the sixth, before Retornaz counted a deuce in the seventh. Mouat ran Retornaz out of rocks in the eighth end.

In the women's semifinals, Silvana Tirinzoni of Aarau, Switzerland scored a single in the eighth end to edge Eun-jung Kim of South Korea 5-4, while Rachel Homan's team from Ottawa — consisting of third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes — defeated Seung-youn Ha of South Korea 6-1 in the other semifinal.

Homan scored three in the first end, gave up one in the fourth and then added three more in the fifth to take a commanding 6-1 lead.

Tirinzoni and Homan will play in Sunday's championship final.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.