Canada claimed the gold medal in Olympic men's curling after a spectacular 10-4 win over Finland in Pinerolo, Italy on Friday.

Mark Nichols, Russ Howard, Jamie Korab and alternate Mike Adam, led by Newfoundland's Brad Gushue, played a safe eighth and final end, holding the Finns to one point to easily win the game after a sixth end that launched the Canadians to a seven-point lead.

Nichols played solidly throughout the entire game, consistently making key shots with an accuracy rate of 97 per cent, along with solid performances by Gushue, Russ Howard and lead Jamie Korab.

After the first end, the Canadians were trailing 2-0, but came back with the final shot of the second end to tie it up

In the third end, Gushue started strong with a tap-back on his first stone. Finnish skip Markku Uusipaavalniemi then wrecked on a Canadian guard stone, opening the way for Gushue to lie four.

Uusipaavalniemi followed that with a tight tap-back attempt that went awry, allowing Canada to steal one.

Gushue then stole one in the fourth end to give Canada a lead of 4-2.

In the fifth end, Finland gained one point and held Canada scoreless narrowing the difference to just one point between the two.

A stunning sixth end put Canada well out in front, adding six points to their score while the Finns gained none.

Faced with a Canadian lie of six, Uusipaavalniemi missed a crucial shot, failing to knock out any of the stones in the house in what became a vital turning point in the game.

The gold medal bumps Canada's medal count to a record-setting 20.

'My heart started to pound'

Gushue admits he began to think about celebrating even before the match was over.

"Once Russ stopped sweeping in the sixth end, I looked up and saw six yellows in the house, at that point my heart started to pound because I knew we weren't going to lose," Gushue told CTV News.

Gushue couldn't wait to call his mother Maureen, who wasn't able to travel to Italy to watch her 25-year-old son because she is undergoing chemotherapy treatment for bowel cancer.

He called over to Adam halfway through the eighth end to get his cellphone. As Uusipaavalniemi's drew into the house with his final stone, Adam threw Gushue his phone so he could call his mother.

"I only talked to her for a few seconds, but that was enough to let her in that moment and be part of it," he said.

The team of Gushue, Nichols, Korab and Adams won a world junior title in 2001 and was a rising young team on the men's circuit. They had played together for years.

But just prior to the Olympic qualifier, they made the gutsy decision to bring two-time world champion Howard, about 25 years their collective senior, on board.

"Half the time your're giving advice and half the time you're staying out of the way," said Howard, who turned 50 at these Games, and is the oldest Canadian to win an Olympic gold medal at a Winter Games, according to the Canadian Olympic Committee.

Gushue is a native of St. John's, Nichols is from Labrador City, but lives in the Newfoundland capital, Korab is from Harbour Grace, Adams hails from Labrador City, but lives in Wabush. Howard is originally from Midland, Ont., but makes his home in Moncton.

Women's team

The Canadian women's curling team claimed the bronze medal on Thursday, and team member Shannon Kleibrink told Canada AM the team would be at the match to unabashedly support their compatriots.

She was confident the men would pull out a gold medal-winning performance.

"Once you get this far you're pretty comfortable with the ice, you don't actually feel as much pressure as you did early in the week," Kleibrink said from Turin.

"I don't think you'll see much pressure. I think it will be a short game and they'll go right after them."

Earlier in the week, Gushue said he wondered if any work would get done in Newfoundland on Friday as the province tuned in to watch the team.

Team Canada won Olympic silver medals in men's curling in 1998 and 2002.

Gushue came into the Torino Olympics favoured to win the gold and came out of the round robin with a 6-3 record. One of the losses, however, was a close 8-7 loss to Finland.

With a report from CTV's Janis Mackey Frayer