First-place Canada earns bye to world curling semifinals
![Canada skip Brad Gushue throws a rock for sweepers Geoff Walker and Brent Gallant during the LGT World Men’s Curling Championship at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on April 2, 2022.](https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/calgarysun/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/mens-curling-worlds.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=288&h=216&sig=LBJruSEhDskwKDEgPxSCNg)
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Hello, good bye.
Team Gushue is certainly happy to see you.
With its win early Friday at the 2022 LGT World Men’s Curling Championship in Las Vegas, Canada skips Saturday’s qualification round and goes right to the semifinals later in the day (10 p.m. ET, TSN).
It’s a welcome bye, to be sure.
It means one less game during a schedule that’s been fantastic — but hectic — for the rink from Newfoundland’s St. John’s Curling Club.
“There’s been times this week where I feel like a zombie out there, and you’re focused and trying to do your best, but it’s just been a long year and a grind,” said Canada skip Brad Gushue. “And this week, the draw hasn’t been our friend either with the night and the morning (games) — it just makes the days longer.
“But it’s the world championship … If we can’t find the energy, there’s something wrong.”
Tired or not, Team Canada is did everything right to finish at the top of the standings at the 13-country event.
The 8-6 win Friday morning over Scotland’s Kyle Waddell (7-5) followed by a 9-2 thrash of Denmark’s Tobias Thune (2-10) wrapped up the round robin for Canada at 10-2. That means hammer for the semi-final and — if it makes it — the final.
“(That’s) certainly a bonus, but just as big as that is getting a bit of rest,” Gushue said. “We’re all feeling it. I think the energy was a little bit low, and it has been for the most part this week. Any chance we can get to get some rest is going to benefit our team.”
That rest was guaranteed by staying one step ahead of Scotland for most of the game. After stealing in the first end and watching the Scotsmen earn two in the second, Gushue, third Mark Nichols, second Brett Gallant and lead Geoff Walker dominated the rest of the way. They got two of their own in the third end and then another steal in the fourth. That kept them one step ahead until Scotland fourth Ross Paterson made a superstar shot — a double-raise takeout-and-stick for two — with the hammer in the ninth end.
That tied the game and Scotland put pressure on the Canadians in the final end until Gushue made a superb shot — a perfectly executed double-takeout to turn the game in their favour. Paterson then flashed his rock between two Canada stones in the house, and it was shake-hands time.
Hard-to-read ice again was an issue in the draw.
“We got a few flat spots, and it kind of junked up,” Gushue added. “If we had to draw the four-foot in the last end, it would have been a bit of a guess, and you don’t really want that.
“So fortunately, we played a really strong 10th end and didn’t have to throw the last one.”
In the night-cap, Canada took care of business fast with a deuce to start in two and three more in the third. The Danes got one in each of the second and fourth ends to score their only points of the draw. Canada then went on to put up two in each of the fifth and sixth ends after which the game was called.
EXTRA ENDS
Both Italy’s Joel Retornaz (8-4) and the United States’ Korey Dropkin (7-5) qualified early Friday after earning seventh wins. They played each other in the late draw, with Italy winning 8-4. Scotland then earned a playoff spot with an evening win over Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller (6-6) 8-7. But Switzerland grabbed the final playoff spot on the last rock of the night, when Netherland’s Wouter Goesgens (3-9) surprised Korea’s Kim Soo-Hyuk (6-6) in an 8-7 extra end affair to give the Swiss that coveted last berth for weekend play … The qualification games are set for Saturday (5 p.m. ET, TSN) when No. 3 Italy takes on No. 6 Switzerland and No. 4 Scotland takes on No. 5 USA … In the afternoon, it was: Korea over Germany’s Sixten Totzen (6-6) 9-4; Finland’s Kalle Kiiskinen (4-8) beating Netherlands 9-8 in an extra end; Czech Republic’s Lukas Klima (5-7) topping Denmark 9-2; and Sweden’s Niklas Edin (9-3) — which joins Canada in a bye through to the semifinal — defeating Norway’s Magnus Ramsfjell (5-7) 7-6 … Other morning results were: Italy 9, Norway 6 in an extra end; Germany over Switzerland 10-3; and the U.S. thumping Finland 7-2.
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