Defending champion Brad Gushue has suffered his first loss at the 2018 Canadian men’s curling championship, falling 10-7 to Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher in Wednesday’s morning draw.
Bottcher’s Edmonton rink scored three in the ninth end. Wielding the hammer in the 10th, Gushue and his defending Brier championship rink from St. John’s, N.L., couldn’t come up with the big end necessary to recover.
READ MORE: Gushue’s Team Canada remains undefeated at Brier, gets set to face Alberta
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The result created a tie atop Pool A at 5-1 between Gushue, Bottcher and wild-card entry Mike McEwen of Winnipeg.
READ MORE: Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen steals his way into the 2018 Tim Hortons Brier
McEwen joined the leaders with a 6-2 win over Newfoundland and Labrador. Skip Greg Smith and his St. John’s team fell to 1-5.
In other early action, British Columbia won its second straight match with a 7-3 victory over Northwest Territories. Both teams were at 2-4 after 12 draws.
Nova Scotia improved to 3-3 with a 7-4 win over Yukon (1-5).
READ MORE: Canada sets its national curling stage: meet the teams
Wednesday’s afternoon draw included a match between Manitoba and Northern Ontario. The teams were tied atop Pool B with Ontario at 5-1.
The Pool A teams returned for the late draw, which featured a matchup between Bottcher and McEwen.
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