Brad Gushue

Gushue has played in 17 Briers, all for his native Newfoundland and Labrador except in 2018 and 2019 where, as defending champion, his rink was designated Team Canada. He made his first showing at the Brier (Canadian Men's National Championship) in 2003, and has continued to represent Newfoundland and Labrador each year since, except in 2006 when he was unable to participate due to being at the Olympics in Italy. In 2004, Brad Gushue was named the All Star skip at the Nokia Brier.

In 2007 Gushue seemed ready to add a Brier title to his Olympic Gold, finishing the round robin a strong 8–3 for 2nd place, earning himself a spot in the "One vs. Two" playoff game, where he beat Ontario's Glenn Howard (who he had lost to in the round robin) with a calm, measured performance critics said he could not muster without Russ any longer with him to tame his overly aggressive tendencies. His team thus advanced to the finals, where they would have a rematch with Howard, and this time would lose, in a game that would turn when in the 7th end tied 5-5 and with hammer, rather than taking 1, Brad tried an extremely difficult (many said impossible) shot for 3 or 4, which he would miss to give up a crucial steal of 2, firmly handing the momentum over to the Howard side. This choice led to many of his critics again questioning his brash nature of wanting to go for the boldest shots unnecessarily at times, and questioning if he could ever win again without strategic mastermind Russ Howard still at his side.

At the 2008 Brier, Gushue's team failed to make the playoffs, losing a tie-breaker to British Columbia's Bob Ursel.[8]

At the 2009 Brier, Team Gushue performed strongly, ending the round robin in 3rd place. However a loss in the 3–4 game to eventual runner up Jeff Stoughton left him finishing the event in 4th place.

In 2010 Gushue would again be a playoff team, ending the round robin in 4th place. He would lose to eventual winner Kevin Koe in the 3–4 game however, for the 2nd straight year finishing in 4th place.

During the 2011 Tim Horton's Brier event in London, The Gushue Rink won the first ever Brier Bronze Medal game, defeating Kevin Martin (Alberta) 10–5. He had an excellent round robin, for the first time in his career finishing the round robin in 1st place at 9-2 (Jeff Stoughton and Kevin Martin were also 9-2 but had lost their round robin meetings with Gushue). He would lose both the 1–2 game to Stoughton and semifinal to Glenn Howard though. Still this would be his first podium finish at the Brier since his silver in 2007, and his 2nd ever.

Gushue missed the playoffs at the 2012 Tim Hortons Brier, posting a 5–6 record.

At the 2013 Tim Hortons Brier, his rink made the playoffs again after an 8-3 round robin record. However, the team would lose in the 3 vs. 4 page playoff game against Northern Ontario, and then they would fall again in the bronze medal game to Ontario, settling for 4th.

At the 2014 Tim Hortons Brier, Gushue missed the playoffs for the 2nd time in 3 Briers, posting a 6–5 record.

At the 2015 Tim Hortons Brier, Gushue would have a great round-robin finishing 2nd at 9–2, including making the shot of the week to win in an extra end against AB. Said shot earned him an appearance on TSN SportsCentre's "1v1" segment and ultimately became the first athlete to retire as 1v1 Champion, winning the fan vote 10 times in a row against other spectacular plays in the world of sports. In the playoffs, Gushue would lose both the 1v2 game to Olympic Champion and 2013 Brier Champion Brad Jacobs, and the semifinal to eventual winner Pat Simmons. In the bronze medal game against Steve Laycock's Saskatchewan team, Gushue would lose in an extra end when he missed a difficult runback shot.

Gushue won the Ford Hot Shots skills competition at the 2016 Tim Hortons Brier.[9] He finally made his second Brier final 9 years after his loss to Glenn Howard in the 2007 Brier final, advancing by defeating his longtime nemesis Brad Jacobs in the 1–2 game, but as the favourite would fall to Kevin Koe who had come all the won from the 3–4 game. Both teams curled strongly in the final, with Team Gushue at 91% and Team Koe at 94% but the main difference was at skip position where Brad was a disappointing 81% vs the near perfect 96% of Kevin Koe.

Brad Gushue makes a delivery at the 2018 Elite 10 event.

In 2017 he played the Brier in his home province, and there was high hype for him to finally break the 41 year old drought since the last Newfoundland Brier win, and at long last win his first Brier after numerous near misses. The previous Brier winners, Jack MacDuff and his teammates from 1976, were in the crowd during the Opening Ceremonies. Starting off in shaky form at 3–2 with losses to both Mike McEwen and shockingly the Northwest Territories (whose win over Gushue would be their only win of the entire round robin), Gushue found his form thereafter and reeled off six consecutive wins to end up at a 9–2 record and 2nd place after the round robin. For the third time in his career he would advance to the final by virtue of winning the 1-2 Page Playoff game, this time over Mike McEwen who had come into the playoffs as the #1 seed (with an identical 9–2 record, broken by virtue of his round robin win over Gushue). In a rematch of the 2016 final he would face Kevin Koe (now representing Team Canada), who just as in 2016 had come through the 3–4 game to the final, and who had overcome a big deficit (5-3 without hammer) in beating Mike McEwen in the semifinals. In the final, starting out with near flawless play Gushue would jump to a 5–1 lead. However, the team began to struggle slightly, compared to Team Canada, and with Team Koe curling better in the second half of the game, managing to tie the game in the 9th, at 6-6. On his final shot of the 10th end, Gushue nearly came up short in a draw shot, needing to hit 8 foot to win, but his sweepers were able to get it there for him to finally win his first Brier with a 7–6 triumph.

On March 5, 2018, early in the 2018 Tim Hortons Brier, Gushue skipped the 114th win of his Brier career, breaking a three-way tie for the most Brier game wins as a skip with previous record-holders Russ Howard and Kevin Martin. His first victory took place on March 1, 2003, 15 years earlier.[2] Gushue, who was skipping Team Canada as defending champions would go on to win the event, claiming his second straight Brier title.

Gushue represented Team Canada once again at the 2019 Tim Hortons Brier. After finishing the round robin with a 9–2 record, the team went on to lose the 3 vs. 4 page playoff game to Team Wildcard, skipped by Brendan Bottcher. The loss forced Gushue to play in the Newfoundland and Labardor Tankard for the first time since 2017. He won the Tankard for the 15th time, and represented his province at the 2020 Tim Hortons Brier. At the Brier, Gushue led his rink to an 8–3 record. In the playoffs, he won three straight games to claim his third Brier championship, defeating Bottcher (skipping Team Alberta) in the final. It would be Gushue's last game for nearly eight months, as the season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[10] forcing the 2020 World Men's Curling Championship (which he qualified for as Brier champion) to be cancelled.

By winning the 2017 Tim Hortons Brier, Gushue also earned the right to represent Canada at the 2017 Ford World Men's Curling Championship. The team finished in first place by going undefeated in round robin play with an 11–0 record. They defeated team Sweden, skipped by Niklas Edin in the page playoff 1v2 game by a score of 7–4. Once again they defeated Sweden, this time by a score of 4–2 in the gold medal game to claim the World title. Their performance at the World's earned them a spot in the 2017 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials.

Gushue once again represented Canada at the 2018 World Men's Curling Championship. They finished the round robin with a 9–3 record. In the playoffs, they knocked off the United States and Scotland to make it to the final, where they faced Sweden's Edin rink in a rematch of the 2017 final. This time, Edin got the better of Gushue, defeating Canada 7–3.