Brad Gushue, 2006 Olympic gold medallist, will make his sixth appearance at the Canadian men's curling championship when the Tim Hortons Brier gets underway, March 7 in Calgary.

Gushue successfully defended his provincial title by winning the Labatt Tankard in Stephenville on February 8, going undefeated in the 10-team round robin, then beating Keith Ryan of Labrador City, 9-2 in the final in six ends.

Since Gushue was unbeaten after the round robin, he would have had to be defeated twice, but a second game wasn't necessary.

Meanwhile, Ryan, who had a 5-4 record after the round robin, clawed his way to the final by first defeating Alex Smith, 8-4 in a second tiebreaker, then Gary Oke, 7-3 in the semi-final.  Ryan also lost last year's final to Gushue.

Representing the Bally Haly Golf & Curling Club of St. John's, Gushue skipped Newfoundland and Labrador at the Brier in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007 (his best finish yet, when second to Ontario's Glenn Howard at the Tim Hortons Brier in Hamilton, losing the final, 10-6), then last year in Winnipeg, where he completed the round robin tied for fourth with a 7-4 record, before losing a tiebreaker to British Columbia's Bob Ursel.

Third Mark Nichols was also a member of those Brier teams, as well as the Olympic gold medal-winning one in Pinerolo, Italy in 2006, when Canada defeated Finland's Markku Uusipaavalniemi in the final.   Gushue and Nichols also collaborated to win the 2001 Canadian and world junior men's championships.

Second Ryan Fry, who joined the team this season, will be making his second Brier appearance, after playing third for Manitoba's Jeff Stoughton in 2007, losing the semi-final to Ontario's Glenn Howard.

Lead Jamie Korab has rejoined the Gushue team this year and will be making his fifth Brier appearance.  He was also a member of the Olympic gold medal winners and played with Gushue in his first four Briers.  He did not play for Gushue last year.

Newfoundland has one Brier win to its credit, that in 1976 by Jack MacDuff in Regina.