Defending champ Gushue misses playoffs at AMJ Players’ Championship

TORONTO — There will likely be a brand new males’s champion on the AMJ Gamers’ Championship.

Italy’s Staff Joël Retornaz performed the spoiler, defeating reigning champ Staff Brad Gushue of Canada 7-6 in an additional finish Friday throughout their final round-robin recreation.

It was a rematch, however not a repeat, of final yr’s closing and the loss eradicated Gushue from playoff competition.

Retornaz had already missed the reduce with 4 straight losses and ended on a optimistic word, whereas Gushue’s week was the precise reverse, beginning with a win over Staff Matt Dunstone and ending with 4 straight losses.

Gushue, who has misplaced 11 of his final 12 video games within the Grand Slam of Curling collection, held the hammer coming house with a one-point lead however gave up a steal to tie the sport and power OT.

The 15-time Grand Slam title winner got here up quick on his draw shot within the additional to concede the decisive level.

Gushue will maintain a detailed eye on the rest of the event. Playoff-bound Staff John Epping might surpass Gushue on the Canadian Staff Rating System (CTRS) factors record for the third and closing Brier pre-qualifier berth handed out following the conclusion of the season finale occasion. Epping must win the AMJ Gamers’ Championship title to safe sufficient factors.

Subsequent season’s Brier is scheduled for Feb. 27–March 8, 2026, in Gushue’s hometown of St. John’s, N.L.

In the meantime, the AMJ Gamers’ Championship playoff image continues to take form on shifting day.

Switzerland’s Staff Yannick Schwaller (4-1) secured a spot on the lads’s facet with a 5-3 victory over Scotland’s Staff Ross Whyte (2-3).

In ladies’s play, South Korea’s Staff Seung-youn Ha (3-2) stole singles within the seventh and eighth ends to edge Staff Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland 8-7 and clinch a spot on the ladies’s facet. Tirinzoni (3-1) has yet one more round-robin recreation within the night towards undefeated Staff Anna Hasselborg (4-0) of Sweden.

Canada’s Staff Kerri Einarson fell 7-5 to Sweden’s Staff Isabella Wranå. Each groups wrapped up pool play with 2-3 information and are in wait-and-see mode in the event that they’ll be sticking round for a possible tiebreaker.

Two extra round-robin attracts stay with Draw 14 beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.

The AMJ Gamers’ Championship options the highest 12 males’s groups and high 12 ladies’s groups from around the globe. … Six groups qualify for the playoffs in each divisions, with the highest two receiving byes to the semifinals. … If vital, one tiebreaker draw is slated for Saturday morning. … The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Saturday. Each finals are on faucet Sunday.