Team Canada is set for another Olympic showdown on Friday. It has nothing to do with hockey, but another national passion -- curling.

The Canadian men's team faces off against Finland for the gold, and it has become an obsession in the team's home province of Newfoundland and Labrador to add to Canada's medal count. If the team wins it will be the first winter medal for the province in more than a decade.

Brad Gushue is the skip, and the team is rounded out by third Mark Nichols, second Russ Howard and lead Jamie Korab.

"To know that no matter what happens on Friday we're coming home with a medal, is very exciting, but we want gold and we're going to be gunning hard on Friday," Gushue told CTV News.

School children across the province are being given the afternoon off just to watch the game.

"We felt that the students would be dismissed at the critical time, to see the ending of this game, and we felt that we wanted all Newfoundlanders, all the students to be able to share in the excitement," Newfoundland's Education Minister Joan Burke told CTV News.

Gushue wonders if anything will get done in his home province on Friday.

"I don't know what's going to happen on Friday, but I imagine there's going to be a lot of sick days or a lot of TVs in offices because the game is on at one o'clock," Gushue said Thursday. "I know there will be a lot of interest."

At the Newfoundland rink where the team practiced, people are confident the men can bring home the top prize.

"I think he can do it. They've been practicing so hard. You see them down at the club seven days a week," said one man.

Team Canada won Olympic silver medals in men's curling in 1998 and 2002. But, Gushue says things will be different this time around.

"It's four different individuals on the ice, so I'm not too worried about the past two results," Gushue said. "We're feeling confident. The last three and a half games have been very good, we improved our play."

With a report from CTV's Sarah Galashan and files from The Canadian Press