Gushue, Shuster remain in the mix at HearingLife Tour Challenge

CHARLOTTETOWN — Brad Gushue is still in it to win it at the HearingLife Tour Challenge.

Gushue and his crew from St. John’s, N.L., eliminated Scotland’s Team Cameron Bryce 6-3 in Draw 13 Friday morning to stay afloat in the C-side of the triple knockout.

The first Grand Slam of Curling event of the season features triple knockout — with A, B and C Event brackets — where teams must win three games before they lose three to advance to the quarterfinals. 

The 15-time Grand Slam champion Gushue (2-2) will next play on Saturday morning in the C-qualifiers against an opponent to be determined where the winner moves on and the loser is gone.

Team John Shuster of the United States prevailed over Italy’s Team Joël Retornaz 7-6 in an extra end to eliminate the tournament’s defending champion and No. 1 seed.

Shuster scored four in the sixth to take a 6-2 lead, however, Retornaz responded with a three-ender in the seventh and stole one in the eighth to force the extra.

In women’s play, Switzerland’s Team Silvana Tirinzoni chased away Scotland’s Team Rebecca Morrison 6-3 and Team Satsuki Fujisawa of Japan dispatched Winnipeg’s Team Chelsea Carey 5-1 to move onto the C-qualifiers.

Carey was playing short-handed this week as second Emily Zacharias was out due to injury.

UP NEXT

Triple-knockout play continues with Draw 14 at noon AT / 11 a.m. ET. Watch live on Sportsnet One and Sportsnet+.

NOTES

The HearingLife Tour Challenge features 64 of the best men’s and women’s teams from around the world split into two tiers. … Tier 2 winners receive invitations to the WFG Masters in January. … Eight teams in each division qualify for Saturday’s quarterfinals … The semifinals are also scheduled for Saturday with the finals set for Sunday.