Brendan Bottcher joins Brad Gushue as his second

In gigantic curling news on Tuesday, Brad Gushue of St. John’s, Newfoundland has announced a new second effective immediately. According to TSN, Gushue has decided to replace E.J. Harnden of of Sault. Ste. Marie, Ontario with Brendan Bottcher of Sherwood Park, Alberta.

Bottcher, who currently coaches Rachel Homan’s team, and plays mixed doubles with Homan, is moving into a curling position he is not used to. The 32-year-old has been a skip for the last several years, where he has had eight Brier appearances, and represented Canada at the 2021 World Men’s Curling Championship in Calgary.

This was the second significant curling change this month. The other change also involved the second position. What we saw there is Kevin Koe replacing Jacques Gauthier with Aaron Sluchinski of Airdrie, Alberta.

There is a significant focus at this time for curlers to generate maximum performance with the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo as a top priority. Efforts are being made to put together the best quality teams possible for the 2025 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Gushue at this time, should be considered a favourite, as he won the gold medal at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin, and the bronze medal at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.