Team Gushue to represent Canada at Pan Continental Curling Championship
The 2023 Pan Continental Curling Championships begin later this month and some familiar teams will once again represent Canada at the event.
Reigning 2023 Brier champions, Team Brad Gushue of St. John’s, will wear the Maple Leaf at the second edition of the Pan Continentals in British Columbia from Oct. 29-Nov. 4.
The Pan Continental Curling Championships will decide which nations from the Americas, Asia and Pacific regions will compete at the upcoming 2024 world women’s and men’s curling championships this season. The top five finishers will secure their world championship berths, although in the case of countries hosting a world championship, their berths are already secure.
Team Gushue (skip Brad Gushue, vice-skip Mark Nichols, second E.J. Harnden, lead Geoff Walker and coach Caleb Flaxey) must finish in the top five to qualify Canada for the 2024 World Men’s Curling Championship in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.
“Yeah, that’s a cool event. We’re excited to play there, and we have Jim Cotter (of nearby Vernon) coming with us as our fifth man, which is going to be nice,” said Gushue. “It’ll be fun to spend a week with him. Kelowna is a beautiful city, and I would imagine the ice is going to be pretty good.”
The Kelowna Curling Club will surely provide some nostalgia for Gushue and Nichols. The duo represented Newfoundland and Labrador during the 1999 Canadian Juniors in that venue. The eventual Olympic gold medallists earned bronze at that event, losing to Ontario’s John Morris in the semifinal.
Teams Gushue and Einarson achieved their goals last season at the inaugural Pan Continental Curling Championships in Calgary. Team Gushue earned Canada an historic gold medal.