By Greg Higgins

Top ranked Gushue knocks out home favourite Laycock

Jan 7, 2017 | 2:48 PM

Some may look at the scoreboard of the Steven Laycock and Brad Gushue game and thought it would have been a boring match considering the 1-1 tally after four, but it was the game of the draw for the crowd.

Saskatoon’s own Team Laycock gave the number one ranked team in the world out of Newfoundland a run for their money. 

Laycock missed a drawn with his last in the fifth opening the door for Gushue to take two points and the largest lead of the game at 3-1. Laycock made the game 3-2 in the sixth, but surrendered two more in the seventh and couldn’t recover in the eighth, losing 5-2.

In what was also a very close game, Ontario’s Brad Jacobs broke a 2-2 tie against Manitoba’s Mike McEwen in the fifth by sticking for two points with the hammer and making it 4-2. McEwen picked up one in the sixth with a nice draw to the button. It wasn’t enough though as Jacobs scored three in the seventh and the game was called. Jacobs moves on to face Gushue in the semifinals.

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A botched hit and roll by Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher left three in the house for Sweden’s Niklas Edin’s hammer throw in the fourth end. Edin picked up four to increase his lead to 6-1 and never looked back, stealing one in the fifth and the game was called.

Jim Morris made a quick game out of the American team led by John Shuster. With a  3-1 lead in the sixth, Shuster missed a draw, knocked both his rocks out of the house, leaving Morris stealing four and calling the game at 7-1. The team from B.C. now faces Edin in the semifinals.

In the women’s quarter finals at 4 p.m. Jennifer Jones and her team from Manitoba will try to advance over Casey Sheidegger from Lethbridge. From Ontario, Jacqueline Harrison will face off with the Swiss team led by Silvana Tirinzoni. In another international pairing, Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg plays Allison Flaxey out of Ontario and the final game is between Tracy Fleury and her Ontario squad against Val Sweeting out of Edmonton. 

Greg Higgins is a reporter with battlefordsNOW.com. He can be reached at greg.higgins@jpbg.ca.