Brad Gushue, Glenn Howard win tiebreakers to move on at the National

CONCEPTION BAY SOUTH, N.L. – Hometown skip Brad Gushue has made it into the playoffs the hard way at the National.

Gushue downed Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller 4-1 on Friday night in a tiebreaker draw to set up the quarterfinals at the fourth stop on the Grand Slam of Curling circuit.

Glenn Howard of Penetanguishe, Ont., also needed a tiebreaker to get into the final eight, beating Saskatoon’s Kirk Muyres 4-2.

Scotland’s Bruce Mouat and Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., finished 4-0 for the top two seeds. Mouat will meet Gushue in one quarterfinal while Jacobs faces Howard.

Calgary’s Kevin Koe (3-1) plays Winnipeg’s Jason Gunnlaugson (2-2) and Scotland’s Ross Paterson (2-2) is up against Sweden’s Niklas Edin (3-1) to round out the men’s playoffs that begin Saturday.

The women’s side will also need a tiebreaker before starting the playoff round, which will go Saturday morning.

Winnipeg’s Kerri Einarson will face American Jamie Sinclair with the winner moving on to play top seed Anna Hasselborg of Sweden, the only skip to finish 4-0.

Ottawa’s Rachel Homan (3-1) and Toronto’s Jacqueline Harrison (2-2) are scheduled in one quarterfinal while Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones (3-1) faces Scotland’s Eve Muirhead (3-1) and Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni (3-1) meets Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa in the others (3-1).

The championship draws go Sunday.