5 Great Brad Gushue Moments 

Brad Gushue has announced that the 2025-26 season will be his last as a competitive curler. 

A hero to his home province of Newfoundland and Labrador and a top contender for the title of greatest curler ever, Gushue has won everything there is to win in curling over the last 25 years. 

He’s been a world junior champion, a world champion, an Olympic champion. He has more national titles than any other Canadian male skip. A street and a highway bear his name. 

Here’s a quick look back at five memorable moments from his illustrious career. 

Turin 2006 

It was a surprise to most when a team of 20-somethings from Newfoundland and Labrador won the Canadian Curling Trials to become Team Canada for the Turin 2006 Olympic Games. Gushue had been the world junior champion in 2001, but at 25 was still quite young in comparison to his competitors. Knowing his team could use some extra experience, he had recruited a legendary skip twice their age, Russ Howard, who happily came aboard to throw second stones and provide guidance. 

The pressure was on in Italy. Canada had yet to win an Olympic gold medal in men’s curling since the sport returned to the Olympic program eight years earlier. A 6-3 record in the round robin got them into the semifinals where they easily defeated the United States. Facing Finland in the final, they scored a remarkable six in the sixth end en route to a 10-4 victory. 

The history-making moment was watched by almost everyone in Newfoundland and Labrador, which had closed schools for the afternoon so that students could take in the gold medal game at home on TV. What they ended up seeing was an emotional Gushue pleading through the camera for his mother, Maureen, who was home battling cancer, to answer the phone in the immediate aftermath of the victory. 

2017 Brier 

Gushue was a stalwart at the Brier, representing Newfoundland and Labrador at the men’s national championship each year since 2003 (except 2006 when he was busy winning that Olympic gold medal). His teams had made the final twice, in 2007 and 2016, but had never won it all. 

So it was a storybook moment waiting to be written when his hometown of St. John’s hosted the Brier in 2017. It had been 41 years since a team from Newfoundland and Labrador had been Canadian champions. After jumping out to a 5-1 lead in the final, they allowed the defending champions to come back and tie it 6-6 heading to the 10th end. With the hammer, Gushue almost came up short on his draw to the eight foot. But his sweepers got the rock there, with Mark Nichols jumping out from behind the house to help Brett Gallant while Geoff Walker was dealing with an injury. The sold out arena erupted into a frenzy. 

Of course, Gushue had to share the win with the fans. During the late night celebration at The Patch, the Brier trophy was sent out for some crowd surfing. 

2017 World Men’s Curling Championship 

Winning the Brier meant that Gushue would get to represent Canada at the world championships for the first time. They got to do it on home ice in Edmonton. His team went a perfect 11-0 in the round robin and then defeated Sweden, led by star skip Niklas Edin, in both the 1v2 page playoff and the gold medal game. 

That victory made Gushue the first skip to ever win a world junior title, an Olympic gold medal, a Brier, and a men’s world title. 

Beijing 2022 and 2022 Brier

Sixteen years after he won Olympic gold, Gushue finally returned to Olympic ice. His team grinded out a 5-4 record in the round robin to get into the playoffs. After a tough loss to the aforementioned Edin and his reigning world champions from Sweden in the semifinals, Gushue and his team rebounded to defeat the defending Olympic champions from the United States in the bronze medal game. 

Gushue and his longtime teammate and vice-skip Nichols had the longest gap between medals in Canadian Winter Olympic history. 

Less than two weeks later, they were a wild card team at the Brier. Despite the whirlwind, they went 8-0 in the preliminary round, but were then dealt a blow when Nichols tested positive for Covid-19, sidelining him for the rest of the tournament. In a stunning turn of events, Gushue, Gallant, and Walker earned three straight wins to become the first team to win the championship with just three players on the ice. 

2024 Brier 

Gushue won his sixth career Brier title in his 21st appearance. That set a record for most Brier titles as a skip and most appearances by any player. At the end of the tournament, he had accumulated 181 career Brier victories—far and away the most ever by a skip and also a record for a player at any position. He had also played more games at the Brier than anyone else—257. 

Gushue returned to the Brier in 2025, adding to those career record totals. Heading into his final competitive season, Gushue sits on 22 career Brier appearances (with his 23rd to come when St. John’s once again hosts the national championship in late February) and 189 career Brier wins.