Team Gushue marked a number of firsts in winning their 4th Brier championship this past weekend.

They are the first Wild Card team to win it all, and also the first team to do it with only three players, after Mark Nichols tested positive for COVID-19.

But it was also the first time they ever went without a 5th, or alternate player.

Skip Brad Gushue says there was a bit of Murphy’s Law at play. He says he’s competed at 19 Briers and never needed someone to sub in, adding the one time they don’t have a 5th was the one time they needed it.

Not that it stopped them from winning it all.

It’s a good thing none of the others tested positive. Brier rules state that a team can’t play with fewer than three curlers.