Gushue wraps up top spot in Pool B at Brier with extra-end win over Gunnlaugson

Brad Gushue clinched first place in Pool B at the Tim Hortons Brier with an extra-end 6-5 win over Jason Gunnlaugson on Thursday.

Gushue's Wild Card One team trailed Gunnlaugson's Wild Card Three squad 4-3 after eight ends. But Gushue, who won a bronze medal at last month's Beijing Olympics, scored two in the ninth to take the lead.

Gunnlaugson scored one in the 10th after a measurement, but Gushue had the hammer in the extra end and made it count.

Gunnlaugson wrapped up the round robin with a 5-3 record and had to wait until after Thursday's final draw to learn his playoff fate.

It took an extra end but we managed to pull out our 7th win this morning! And with that win, we've clinched first place in pool B! We have the afternoon off and we finish up the round robin tonight vs Team BC. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Brier2022?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Brier2022</a> <a href="https://t.co/Mn9G5jw7b2">pic.twitter.com/Mn9G5jw7b2</a>

Two other teams in the playoff hunt posted wins in the morning draw, with Manitoba's Mike McEwen defeating Jamie Koe of the Northwest Territories 7-3 and British Columbia's Brent Pierce cruising to a 9-2 victory over Nunavut's Peter Mackey.

McEwen improved to 5-2, tied for second in the group with idle Brad Jacobs of Northern Ontario, while Pierce upped his record to 4-3.

Also Thursday morning, Quebec thumped Nova Scotia 14-6. Both teams were at 3-4 and out of the playoffs.

The final Group A draw was scheduled for Thursday afternoon.