Penton: Canada’s best ever, Brad Gushue, to retire
By Bruce Penton
Curling in Canada through the years has been dominated by players from Manitoba, Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan, but No. 1 on the all-time list of Canadian greats is from St. John’s, NL.
Brad Gushue announced recently that the 2025-26 season would be his last, but he doesn’t have to worry about his legacy in the roaring game. He’s No. 1 all-time. Six Brier titles, a world championship, four silvers at the worlds, 15 Grand Slam titles and an Olympic gold medal will secure his spot as Canada’s best all time.
Putting Gushue at the mountaintop of Canadian curling skips is easy, but how do the rest of Canada’s ice kings rate?
Rankings are from 1980 through today, because the game has changed so much over the years. Today, the world’s best play the game on a full-time basis. Ice conditions are perfect, sweeping techniques have been perfected and the best curlers from around the world compete regularly against each other. (A shoutout to the legendary Ernie Richardson of Regina, who should be included on any list ranking the country’s best curlers, but he was from a bygone era. Other greats from that era were Hec Gervais and Matt Baldwin of Alberta, and Don Duguid and Ken Watson of Manitoba.)
The top 10:
Brad Gushue, St. John’s — Six Brier titles highlight an incomparable career.
Kevin Martin, Edmonton — Won four Brier titles and 18 Grand Slam events and was a key figure in the turn toward professionalism in the sport.
Kevin Koe, Calgary — Four-time Brier winner and twice a world champion.
Jeff Stoughton, Winnipeg — Won the Brier three times and is a two-time world champ.
Randy Ferbey, Edmonton — A skip who thew third stones, the ‘Ferbey Four’ dominated the game while there was unrest in the Canadian curling world as some of the game’s best boycotted major events due to prize money and sponsorship concerns. Ferbey’s record is impressive: Six Brier titles; four world championships.
Russ Howard, Moncton — Howard won two Briers, a world championship and was a key figure on Gushue’s rink that won Olympic gold in Italy in 2006.
Brad Jacobs, Sault Ste. Marie —A two-time Brier champion, including the most recent one with a team based out of Alberta, He won his first Brier in 2013 and also won Olympic gold at Sochi in 2014.
Kerry Burtnyk, Winnipeg — Won two Briers (14 years apart) — 1981 and 1995.
Ed Werenich — Representing Ontario, the Wrench won Briers in 1983 and 1990 and went on to win the world championship both years.
Glenn Howard of Ontario — Won two Briers and 16 Grand Slam events.
Gushue announcing his retirement a full year before it actually takes place will give curling fans across the country an opportunity to properly salute Gushue for his decades of brilliance. The adulation he receives will also be good for his ego, which is fairly large to begin with, but the chance for fans to say goodbye to Canada’s greatest ever curler will be appropriate.
Columnist Norman Chad, on Twitter: “For 12 years, I have wondered if the Fox Sports honchos really expect us to listen to three hours of nonstop, pitch-by-pitch microanalysis from John Smoltz on their MLB telecasts. Apparently they do.”
Cathal Kelly of the Globe and Mail: “The one thing the Maple Leafs are top drawer at is generating players who never say a single interesting word in public. John Tavares must teach a class.”
Kelly again, on Seattle’s poor post-season baseball record: “The Mariners are the Leafs on grass.”
Muhammad Lila, on X: “This is the craziest stat of the World Series: Trey Yesavage, the Blue Jays starting pitcher who makes $57K a year, started Game 1 by striking out Shohei Ohtani, who makes $47M. That’s 824x his salary.”
Eize Basa, on Bluesky: “Hockey would be better if the players had to write a short essay about what they did wrong before they could leave the penalty box.”
Comedy writer Torben Rolfsen of Vancouver: “Blue Jays semi-legend Edwin Encarnacion threw out the first pitch before Game 1 of the ALCS. Looked pretty good, too. The Colorado Rockies immediately offered him a pitching contract.”
Janice Hough of lefrcoastsportsbabe.com: “Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier were among several people reportedly arrested by FBI as part of two separate illegal gambling-related cases. Waiting for ESPN’s ‘This report brought to you by Draft Kings.'”
Another one from Hough: “And not that the horse isn’t already out of the barn and half way across the pasture, but will any two words turn out to be so damaging to the integrity of sports as ‘prop bets?’”
Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: “Welcome to the NBA (National Betting Association), where the load management and tanking culture helped fuel this monumental gambling scandal.”
Jack Finarelli on his sportscurmudgeon.com site: “ (Vikings’) JJ McCarthy still on the shelf — he has spent more time there than any Christmas Elf.”
Headline at fark.com: “ESPN completely ignores the massive FBI gambling press conference. We’ll have more after words from our sponsor, ESPN Bet.”
Care to comment? Email brucepenton2003@yahoo.ca