MOOSE JAW -- Team Canada didn’t take very long to get back into the win column at the BKT World Men’s Curling Championship -- and they did so against one of the best teams in the field.
Canada’s Brad Jacobs, third Mark Kennedy, second Brett Gallant and lead Ben Hebert built a 5-2 lead against Niklas Edin’s reigning world champion rink from Sweden and never looked back, going on to an 8-6 win at Temple Gardens Centre in Moose Jaw.
Canada improves to 4-1 with the victory and now find themselves in a five-way tie for first place heading into the afternoon and evening draws on Tuesday,
“We didn’t want to drop two in a row, playing three of the top teams in the world is going to be tough,” said Hebert, referring to Canada’s run against Scotland, Sweden and Italy in consecutive draws. “We're 1-1 against those guys right now and playing well, yesterday afternoon could have gone either way and if we can get the win tonight and get to 5-1, that would be amazing and put us in a good spot.
“We’re getting in our groove and playing really well. Brad has it battling and is playing really well, the ice is great and the crowd is really giving us extra momentum and energy out there and I like our chances tonight if we keep playing the way we’re playing.”
Canada gave up a steal of one in the first end but promptly got that back and more with a deuce in the second. Jacobs then held Sweden to a single point in the third before taking over the contest with a three spot in the fourth -- a score that Jacobs felt was crucial to their success.
“From there, we just controlled the board,” he said. “We were able to score in the even ends, control the board and control it right to the very end and get the win.”
The teams exchanged single points in the next three ends, with Canada leading 7-4 through eight ends. True to form, Edin put pressure on Jacobs with a deuce in the ninth to trail by one coming home, but Jacobs would get a hit and stick for one in the final end and take the two-point win.
It was a big rebound after their tough loss to Scotland in an extra end the previous afternoon, and Jacobs hopes it leads to momentum going forward.
“I think a really good thing about this team is that when we lost games, we always talk about why,” Jacobs said of the successful turnaround. “We had a really good discussion and debrief after the Scotland game and we came out today with the right energy and the right headspace. We’ve been resilient all season, that’s a big win, beating Sweden, and keeping ourselves at one loss is a huge win for us.”
Other results during Draw 9 saw Japan’s Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi pick up their second straight win with a 6-4 victory over Austria’s Lukas Klima, while the United States’ Korey Dropkin defeated Austria’s Mathias Genner 7-1 in seven ends.
Standings heading into Tuesday afternoon’s 10th draw are as follows:
Canada (Jacobs) 4-1
China (Xu) 4-1
Norway (Ramsfjell) 4-1
Scotland (Mouat) 4-1
Switzerland (Schwaller) 4-1
Sweden (Edin) 3-2
United States (Dropkin) 3-2
Czechia (Klima) 3-3
Italy (Retornaz) 2-3
Japan (Yamaguchi) 2-4
Germany (Muskatewitz) 1-4
Korea (Kim) 0-5
Austria (Genner) 0-4
Canada has the afternoon draw off but face former World bronze medalist Retornaz and Italy in the evening draw at 7 p.m.
Be sure to keep an eye on www.worldcurling.org for up to the minute scores and standings from throughout the event, and catch SportsCage’s live blog of each of Canada’s games.
