STAY CONNECTED: Have the stories that matter most delivered every night to your email inbox. Subscribe to our daily local news wrap.
By Sheena Roszell

Team Canada in Vegas for World Curling Championship

Mar 28, 2018 | 5:00 AM

A pair of curlers from the Peace Region will be hitting the world stage for the Men’s World Curling Championship as part of Team Canada.

Geoff Walker is the lead and Tom Sallows is the alternate for the Brad Gushue team.

After a quick turn around from winning the Brier earlier this month, Canada’s men’s curling team has arrived in Las Vegas for the world championship that starts Saturday.

The team is skipped by Brad Gushue and has Mark Nichols at third and Brett Gallant at second. 

Walker says he’s looking forward to getting on the ice in Vegas.

“We are going down a couple of days early to enjoy what Vegas has to offer, and the weather,” said Walker. “Just getting on the ice for that first game on Saturday is going to be really special and I am really looking forward to it.”

He says their fan support is strong and that was built long ago with the following of Gushue and Nichols.

“Early on in Brad and Mark’s careers they had some success, obviously going to the Olympics in ’06 and winning and stealing the hearts of a lot of Canadians, and it just sort of followed our team all the way through,” Walker said during a press conference call Tuesday. “It’s unbelievable for a guy like me and Brett (Gallant) to go to these events and have fans at really such a young age and such an early career.”

Heading into this world championship, Team Canada skip Brad Gushue says there’s no doubt in his mind, Niklas Edin and Team Sweden are their biggest competition.

“I think they’re one of the top teams in the world and certainly they’re going to be there at the end of the week,” he said.

Edin and Team Sweden won silver at the Olympics in PyeongChang.

He also is banking on Scotland, South Korea and possibly Norway being around come playoff time.

“There’s a lot of good teams in the field, but certainly I think Niklas is really the one that stands out just because of his success on the World Curling Tour.”

Gushue says they have a lot of fans making the trip to cheer them on with close family and friends joining them as well as other members of their curling club.

“Obviously throughout Canada I think there is going to be thousands of people that are going to be going down,” said Gushue. “I certainly feel like if we are not the crowd favorite (in Vegas), we are going to be number two.” 

Canada plays their first game against Russia Saturday at 2:30 p.m. Alberta time.

by Sheena Roszell