By Jolene Latimer
Many curling fans will remember the 2017 Brier in St. John’s, N.L., as the week Brad Gushue won a national title on home ice — the crowd roaring so loud it rattled the rafters of Mile One Centre. But for Marissa Gushue, who was just five years old at the time, it was more than a milestone on her dad’s curling resume; it was the first memory she has of curling.
She doesn’t remember much from that age, but she remembers that Brier.
“Usually, I wouldn’t pay attention,” she said. “But that Brier is the one I remember the most.”
With Gushue playing his last Grand Slam of Curling event this week in Saskatoon, that memory lands differently. Over the course of his career, Gushue has won six Briers, two Olympic medals and 15 Grand Slam titles — a number that places him among curling’s most decorated skips and helped define an era of men’s curling in Canada.
For Gushue, now standing at the edge of retirement, Marissa’s love of the game is wrapped into the larger question he’s been asking himself: What does a legacy look like when the winning stops? The answer, he’s realizing, may already be taking shape in the lives of his daughters, Marissa, now 14, and Hayley, 18.
“(Retiring) is a much more emotional process than I thought it would be,” he said. “There’s a certain level of sadness and disappointment that it’s all ending. But there’s excitement about the future.”
Beyond the scoreboard
Marissa’s childhood wasn’t short on curling exposure, but she didn’t step onto the ice herself until she was 10. At that age, she admits, curling couldn’t compete with an iPad. Then one day, without warning, she told her dad she wanted to play.
“I just decided,” she said, still laughing at the randomness of it.
Her relationship with the sport has changed quickly. This fall, at the CO-OP Tour Challenge in Nisku, Alta., Gushue found himself in a dual role: elite curler on one sheet of ice, dad on another. Just down the road in Beaumont that same weekend, Marissa was competing in the inaugural Junior GSOC bonspiel.
She curled with Luke Shuster, son of U.S. Olympic champion John Shuster — the same skip Gushue defeated in the bronze-medal match at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games. The team of next-generation youngsters finished 2-1 in the round robin.
The symmetry wasn’t lost on Gushue.
“For both of (my daughters), I didn’t really steer them toward curling. I wanted them to find their own path, and if it was away from curling, I would have been completely OK with that. But they both found the game and they seem to love it,” Gushue said. “Marissa is super excited to come up here and play and to get a chance to play. I haven’t seen her this excited to do much in a long time.”
Gushue said John and Sarah Shuster reached out directly to invite Marissa to join the team.
“She’s just pumped to play. I’m pumped to watch her,” he said. “I love watching them play and seeing how much they enjoy the game.”
And yes, he admits, just like any parent, watching them sometimes gets him on the edge of his seat: “I do get nervous,” he admitted.
When describing Marissa’s approach on the ice, he didn’t hesitate: “She’s a very cool customer. She doesn’t get too high or too low,” Gushue said. “To see her excited, that’s why we’re excited. She’s pretty mellow, very emotionally mature.”
Marissa said it’s the friendships that anchor her to the sport.
“I really like the team aspect,” she said. “I get to hang out with my friends every day and go to practice. I find being able to hang out with all my friends every day really makes me happy.”
That shift — from indifference to passion — might be what Gushue most enjoys watching.
“She’s found a nice little team and some friends around it, and that’s probably what’s kept her motivated and wanting to play. That social piece is huge, especially for younger girls.”
But she’s still a Gushue. There’s a competitive flicker in there, too.
“I really like making the shots,” Marissa said, smiling. “It makes it a lot more fun.”
She can rely on a bit of help from her dad when it comes to improving. While it might be hard for some teenage girls to listen to their parents, Marissa is all ears, at least when curling is involved.
“I do listen to what he says,” she said with a laugh. “I do.”
But Brad insists performance matters far less to him than presence and character.
“At this point in their lives, being 14 and 18 years old, whether they win or lose, I’m not too concerned,” he said. “It’s about how they handle themselves and whether they enjoy it.”
For Marissa, encouragement is everything.
“My favorite thing about my dad is how he always wants to help me improve at the sport, no matter how busy he is,” she said. “He always takes time to help me and my team. Whenever he’s home, he tries his best to come, and when he’s away, he always watches the live streams.”
That’s the part — beyond the medals and the titles — that Gushue hopes endures.
“I want to be there with my kids more,” he said. “I want to be there during their curling careers and their life events, which I’ve missed more than I’d like.”
While the grind of the last few seasons has made it harder for him to summon the same competitive fire, watching the sport take root in his daughters' lives has brought him closer to the ideal he aspires to.
“Ultimately, I want to be remembered as a good dad and a good father — which nobody else sees but my family. I hope they feel that way."
