Tim Hortons Brier 2018 Gold-Medal Match: Canada vs. Alberta Score, Reaction

Team Canada completed its dominant showing throughout the 2018 Tim Hortons Brier with a championship performance against Alberta at the Brandt Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Brad Gushue and company earned a 6-4 win in the final Sunday, avenging their only loss while finishing 12-1 in the tournament to bring home gold.

Gushue, Mark Nichols, Brett Gallant and Geoff Walker won last year's event representing Newfoundland and Labrador and have now defended their title as part of Team Canada in 2018.

Curling Canada celebrated the victory:

Both skips were outstanding in this one to showcase a high-quality battle between some of the best in the world.

Brendan Bottcher shot 93 percent on the day for Alberta, although Gushue was nearly unstoppable with a 96 percent success rate. He was part of a nearly flawless showing for Team Canada, which finished at 91 percent for the match.

Things started relatively slowly with two straight scoreless ends, but Canada earned two points in both the third and the fifth. As it has done all tournament long, it prevented its opponent from transforming the match with big ends.

In 118 ends across 13 matches, the squad only allowed eight frames of more than one point while accomplishing the feat 31 times for itself.

Devin Heroux of CBC and CurlingZone discussed the strategy and effort as the match progressed:

Alberta finally got the big number on the board in the ninth end, scoring two after some missed shots and conservative play from Canada.

This left a 5-4 score going into the final end, and the underdogs did everything they could to try to steal a point to stay alive. However, Gushue drew perfectly to the button to clinch the win for the match and the tournament.

There is a long year of competition ahead for these players, but look for them to be back in this event looking to win a third straight title in 2019.

All statistics courtesy of Curling.ca.