West St. Paul’s Reid Carruthers came up short in his search for his first Grand Slam of Curling title as a skip, losing 7-2 to Brad Gushue in Sunday’s championship final of The National out in Oshawa, Ontario.
Carruthers rolled into the match against the 2006 Olympic gold medalist on a five-game win streak. The defending Manitoba champion had a chance to open the scoring in a big way in the second end but failed to pull off a tap back for four points allowing Gushue to steal a single.
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Carruthers eventually tied the game in the fourth but Gushue punched back in the following frame with a deuce after Carruthers missed a double takeout attempt.
The two rinks traded singles until the eighth end when Carruthers coughed up three more points with the hammer.
The second place finish is Carruthers’ highest at a Grand Slam event. In his previous six bonspiels, Carruthers was knocked out in the quarter-finals five times and failed to qualify for the playoffs once.
Gushue’s victory at The National marks his fourth Grand Slam title.
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