Brad Gushue stays hot with 3rd straight win at Grand Slam National
St. John's skip yet to lose Grand Slam match this season
Brad Gushue keeps rolling through the third Grand Slam of Curling tournament of the season.
Gushue, of St. John's, N.L., edged Greg Balsdon of Kingston, Ont., 7-6 on Thursday to improve to 3-0 in round-robin play at the National.
Gushue went undefeated in winning the two first Grand Slam events — the Tour Challenge in September and the Masters last month.
Gushue, who leads Pool A, scored a deuce in the seventh end Thursday night to go up 7-5 over Balsdon (1-2). Balsdon earned a single in the eighth.
Winnipeg's Jason Gunnlaugson (3-0) leads Pool B while South Korea's Chang-Min Kim tops Pool C, also at 3-0.
Gunnlaugson defeated Calgary's Kevin Koe 8-6 in the afternoon draw to move into sole possession of first place in their pool. Koe fell to 2-1.
In other night draw matchups, Winnipeg's Mike McEwen beat Scotland's Bruce Mouat 7-2, Koe edged Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., 6-4 and Winnipeg's Pat Simmons topped China's Rui Liu 7-5.
In women's play, Tracy Fleury of Sudbury, Ont., improved to 4-0 in Pool A with a 7-4 win over Winnipeg's Michelle Englot. Fleury started the day by beating Jacqueline Harrison of Mississauga, Ont., 7-5.
Val Sweeting of Edmonton is in first place in Pool C at 4-0. She downed Calgary's Chelsea Carey 8-0 and China's Bingyu Wang 8-4.
Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge, Alta., and Winnipeg's Jennifer Jones top Pool B at 3-0.
Round-robin play continues through Friday ahead of the weekend playoffs.