Gander's 'Gushue Girls' are ready to see Team Canada go for gold

Sports fans across Newfoundland and Labrador are ready to see Team Gushue hit the Olympic curling rink in just a few days. Most will have their red and white clothes ready, but six women from Gander will be wearing their lucky pink shirts.

Jeanne Collins, Alice McCarthy, Lorna O'Reilly, Betty Hansen, Cindy May and Nancy Dawe make up the "Gushue Girls." The women have been curlers for years and have been in the stands to see some of the team's biggest curling moments.

They've also become famous for their wardrobe, wearing bright pink shirts that spell out skip Brad Gushue's last name.

Collins told CBC News the group became the Gushue Girls at the Ottawa Brier in 2016.

"It just turned out that six of us were going to go to the Brier, and we thought, 'Oh, wouldn't this be fun to get these shirts made?' Which we did."

The shirts quickly got the group noticed on national television during one of the matches that week. It's also where the Gushue girls name began, Collins said, when they were highlighted by TSN's Vic Rauter.

The six have since become a tight-knit group of friends and curling fans. They even often refer to each other by the letter they wear — for example, Collins is called "G" and May goes by "U2."

"One of the girls got sick unfortunately, and when we got to Ottawa, we had no E," Collins said. "So throughout the games in Ottawa, people would come up to us and say 'Please! Please! Can we be your E!?"

'We're very confident'

Moving from the Brier to the largest stage in sports, Collins said it's exciting to see a team from Newfoundland and Labrador at the Olympics.

"We're very confident. We're a very small province with a very big men's curling team," she said. "On any given day, they can beat all the teams at that Olympics."

The Beijing Games are the second Olympic berth for Gushue, third Mark Nichols and alternate Marc Kennedy, who all have Olympic Gold medals to their name. Gushue and Nichols were part of the N.L. team that won gold in 2006 in Turin.

Team second Brett Gallant and lead Geoff Walker will make their Olympic debut when the team hits the ice Wednesday.

Collins remembers watching the 2006 final with the other Gushue Girls, along with the energy and nerves that came in the final. She was even in the stands for Olympic qualifiers in Halifax the year prior.

These Olympics will likely look much different for the team, as COVID-19 will keep the curling arena relatively empty. Gushue said it will be a different experience but he knows family and friends will have his back.

"I think we're going to miss having our supporters over there, being able to look up in the stands and see them cheering us on and supporting us," Gushue said at a media conference before leaving for Beijing.

With Newfoundland and Labrador loosening some of its COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings Monday, the group hopes to watch some of Team Gushue's matches together — all dressed in their famous pink shirts.

But wherever fans are watching from, Collins knows the team will have an entire country supporting them.

"The support that this team has is amazing, and it's the same right across the country," she said. "Even when we go to Briers away, people will sheepishly say, 'Well, we're from Northern Ontario, but we're really rooting for Gushue."

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