Hometown favourite Gushue drops National Grand Slam of Curling opener

Skip from St. John's, N.L., falls to Switzerland's Schwaller in extra ends on Tuesday

Image | gushue-brad

Caption: Brad Gushue, pictured above at the 2018 world men's curling championship, opened with an extra-end loss to Switzerland's Yannick Schwaller on Tuesday at the National Grand Slam of Curling tournament. (John Locher/The Associated Press)

Hometown favourite Brad Gushue began the National Grand Slam of Curling tournament with a loss Tuesday night.
The skip from St. John's, N.L., fell 8-6 in an extra end to Switzerland's Yannick Schwaller.
Gushue tied the game with a deuce in the eighth before Schwaller scored two in the ninth.
In other men's action, Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., beat Scott McDonald of Kingston, Ont., 7-5, and Glenn Howard of Penetanguishe, Ont., topped Winnipeg's Jason Gunnlaughson 4-1.
On the women's side, Calgary's Chelsea Carey started her tournament with an 8-7 win over American Nina Roth.
Japan's Satsuki Fujisawa downed Jamie Sinclair of the United States 9-4 in the other women's game Tuesday night.
Round robin continues through Friday at the fourth Grand Slam of event of the season. The title games are scheduled for Sunday.