Northern Ontario remains alive with another win

NEWS RELEASE

CANADIAN CURLING ASSOCIATION

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Gushue Wins Fifth Straight HAMILTON -- Rumours of Brad Gushue’s demise have been greatly exagerrated.

The 2006 Olympic gold medallist opened the Tim Hortons Brier here with a dismal 1-3 record. But he’s been unbeatable ever since, rattling off his fifth straight win here this afternoon, 7-2 over NWT/Yukon’s Jamie Koe.

Newfoundland's Gushue said things are looking up for his team with playoffs looming.

“I like our chances just because of the way we’re playing,” Gushue said.

The win over Koe improved Gushue to 6-3 and put him alone in third place heading into Wednesday evening’s draw. The loss -- Koe’s fourth in a row -- dropped his team to 4-4.

Manitoba’s Jeff Stoughton is alone in second place with a 7-2 record after earning an 8-7 victory over BC’s Dean Joanisse. Stoughton fell behind 3-1 early in the game, but responded with deuces of his own in the fourth and sixth ends and then sealed the deal with a steal of three in the seventh end.

Joanisse now drops to 3-5.

In the other games on Draw 13, Northern Ontario’s Al Harnden cracked a three in the first end and then survived giving up a steal of three in the fifth end to beat Quebec’s Pierre Charette 8-6. Northern Ontario improved to 5-4, while Quebec dropped to 3-5.

And PEI’s Peter Gallant beat New Brunswick’s Paul Dobson 8-4. PEI improved to 2-6, while New Brunswick fell to 1-8.

While Gushue currently sits alone in third place, he’s got both Alberta’s Kevin Martin and Saskatchewan’s Pat Simmons breathing down his neck. Both teams are 5-3 and have a game in hand on Gushue, who has the bye Wednesday evening.

Saskatchewan plays PEI, while Alberta plays Quebec. Ontario’s Glenn Howard -- all alone in first at 7-1 -- is also in action, taking on BC. The other game features Nova Scotia against NWT/Yukon.

The draw starts at 7 p.m. ET and is being broadcast live on TSN. ************************************************************