"The ice was dirty": Canadian skip Gushue calls out Olympic curling setup
Frustration is mounting for Canadian Olympic curling skip Brad Gushue after failing to clinch a playoff spot at the Beijing Winter Games.
Through eight of the nine round-robin matches, Gushue’s rink sits in third place with a 5-3 record, with the top four teams advancing to the semifinals. But after a 7-6 extra-end loss to ROC on Tuesday, the 2006 Olympic gold medallist knows his team let a great chance slip away.
“They capitalized and made a shot to kind of make us pay for it,” he said following the loss to ROC.
Canada still has a decent shot at making Friday’s semifinals but is in the midst of a tough grind to get there. With 4-4 records, both ROC and USA are right on the Canadians’ heels.
Gushue said the ROC loss was “frustrating,” but also pointed to the ice conditions in contrast to their victory 11 hours earlier against China.
“Even more frustrating to be honest is just the ice,” he said. “You [can] see that dramatic change from [our last game] to [this one].”
Curling at this year’s Olympics takes place in the “Ice Cube,” the nickname given to the National Aquatics Centre venue from the 2008 Summer Olympics that is serving a first-time curling rink.
“It’s really disappointing. The ice is dirty,” Gushue said. “It was a real challenge out there.”
While he didn’t clarify exactly what caused the dirty ice ā possibly excess debris off rubber gripper shoe attachments ā Gushue was then asked if he thought the ice conditions were confined to the sheet Canada was playing on.
“I hope it’s the sheet,” the Canadian skip replied.
With the temporary rink constructed on top of a pool, fluctuations in ice conditions have been common throughout the Olympics. In a sport that relies on precision and timing, curlers have a tendency to obsess over the smallest changes in conditions that may make their shots end up longer or shorter.
“The ice is good, it’s just completely different than it’s been the last few days,” Gushue had told CBC during his team’s game against Italy on Monday.
In their final round-robin match, Canada takes on Great Britain Wednesday at 8:05 pm ET/ 5:05 pm PT. A win would assure the Canadians a spot in the semifinal, though they could get in earlier should Great Britain beat ROC in the earlier draw.
“I think a day off hopefully will help us in the practice tomorrow,” Gushue said. “[It’s] a chance to regroup and maybe figure out you know, what’s been a little off pretty well all week.”
Canada missed the podium in mixed doubles curling after throwing together its team just weeks before the Olympics. The women’s team, led by Jennifer Jones, sits tied for sixth place (but is just half a game back of a playoff spot) with a 3-3 record.
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