Quebec's Michel Menard used the hammer effectively early in Friday's match against Newfoundland and Labrador skip Brad Gushue, shown here at the Briar earlier this year.Quebec's Michel Menard used the hammer effectively early in Friday's match against Newfoundland and Labrador skip Brad Gushue, shown here at the Briar earlier this year. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

Brad Gushue's quest to repeat as Olympic men's curling champion is over.

Gushue fell 7-5 to Jean-Michel Menard of St-Romauld, Que., on Friday, which knocked the St. John's, N.L., skip out of the Olympic pre-trial tournament in Prince George, B.C.

Gushue's Newfoundland and Labrador foursome needed to win three straight games in the C bracket to earn a spot at the Olympic trials Dec. 5-13 in Edmonton. Instead, the 2006 Olympic gold medallists are going home.

Menard advances to face Wayne Middaugh of Toronto in a C semifinal. The winner of that match will face Bob Ursel of Kelowna, B.C., on Saturday for a berth in the trials. Ursel beat Ted Appelman of Edmonton 6-5 in evening play.

Menard used the hammer effectively in the early ends, scoring two in the second and three more in the fourth to take a 5-3 lead at the break. Down 6-3 after eight ends, Gushue scored two in the ninth to make it close, but couldn't steal the tying point in the 10th.

Pat Simmons of Davidson, Sask., earned the second berth out of the pre-trials Friday night, beating Mike McEwen of Winnipeg 7-5 in the B final. Simmons broke a tie with a deuce in the ninth end before running McEwen out of rocks.

On the women's side, Krista McCarville of Thunder Bay, Ont., earned a berth in the trials with a 6-3 victory over Kelly Scott of Kelowna, B.C. McCarville's rink broke a 2-2 tie with two points in the seventh, then held Scott to a single in eight before scoring twice more in the ninth to put the game away.

Scott, the 2007 world champion, will now face Sherry Middaugh of Coldwater, Ont., who knocked off Heather Rankin of Calgary 7-4. The winner will earn a trials berth.

The other Friday afternoon game saw Amber Holland of Kronau, Sask., rout Cathy King of Edmonton 10-4. Holland can earn a berth in the trials with a win Saturday, while King has been eliminated.

In other evening action, Jason Gunnlaugson of Beausejour, Man., stayed alive with a 9-7 win over Kerry Burtnyk of Winnipeg. Gunnlaugson, who stole two points in the 11th end to secure the win, will play McEwen for one of two berths out of the C bracket.

Elsewhere, Marie-France Larouche of St-Romauld, Que., stole three in the 10th end to out-slug Ottawa's Rachel Homan 9-7, earning a date with Holland.