Last year Yorkton’s Steven Laycock was just one shot away from winning the Canadian Open in front of family and friends on home ice.
All he had to do was hope that Newfoundland and Labrador’s Brad Gushue made a tiny mistake on his final shot and the title of Canadian Open champion would be his.
But that mistake didn’t happen.
Gushue made a perfect throw, silencing the crowd and putting an end to a miraculous run to the Canadian Open by Laycock and company.
But this year will be different. This year Laycock and his team of lead Dallan Muyres, second Colton Flasch and third Kirk Muyres are looking for revenge on Gushue… or are they? “We have no hard feelings on what they (Team Gushue) did. They played a great game and we learned a little bit from that game in regards to what we need to do to be better in that situation,” suggested the always easygoing Laycock via phone interview Sunday evening, adding that the only way to truly get revenge on Gushue would be to beat him on his home ice like he did to Laycock. “As far getting revenge on him, I think the only way we could really simulate that would be if we beat him in the Brier final in St. John’s in 2017, otherwise it’s just another game against him really.”
So instead of revenge, Laycock and his team will simply look to build on what he says was one of their best performances as a team at last year’s Canadian Open. “It was a disappointing finish last year for us, but I still look back at the Canadian Open in Yorkton last year as probably one of my favourite and best events that I’ve ever played in,” offered Laycock, continuing, “Obviously last year we showed what we are capable of, so there’s less pressure to show that we actually are able to compete with these top teams.
“At the same time we want to do really well and make sure we have the best showing that we possibly can. It’s not just another event for us, it’s one that we want to do really well in.”
Doing really well is something that the team has become familiar with this season, as Laycock has led his team to an overall record of 25-15 including four third place finishes and a perfect 7-0 record and a first place finish at the Canad Inns Men’s Classic in Portage through seven competitions this year. “We’ve been playing pretty well this year so far. We’ve gotten better each year so we just have to play as close as we can to our abilities and we should be fine,” mentioned Laycock, adding that the reason the team was put together wasn’t just to compete; but to win. “The team was put together to win championships. We knew it wasn’t going to be an overnight thing just given the age of the team and the inexperience the team had when we were first put together, but now we’re at the point where if we play to our capability we fully expect to win the event.”
Team Laycock will open the 2015 Canadian Open against BC’s Jim Cotter at 7:00p.m. on Tuesday, December 8. Tickets are available at the Gallagher Centre Ticketmaster office, or online at www.ticketmaster.ca.
