Canada skip Brad Gushue delivers a throw as they take on Germany at the Men's World Curling Championship in Ottawa, on Thursday, April 6, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
OTTAWA – Canada’s Brad Gushue qualified for the playoffs at the world men’s curling championship on Thursday after splitting his games at TD Place.
Gushue (7-3) defeated Germany’s Sixten Totzek 9-4 in the morning and dropped a 6-3 decision to Scotland’s Bruce Mouat in the evening.
Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller and Sweden’s Niklas Edin shared first place at 9-1 with three round-robin draws remaining. Scotland and Norway’s Magnus Ramsfjell were also playoff-bound at 8-2.
Schwaller secured his spot with a 12-9 victory over American John Shuster in the afternoon. Edin locked up a berth in the evening with a 7-1 win over New Zealand’s Anton Hood.
The top six teams at the end of round-robin play Friday night will qualify for the weekend playoffs. The top two seeds earn direct berths into the semifinals.
It appeared to take a few ends for the players in the Canada-Scotland game to get settled in. It felt warmer in the building and frosty ice conditions were an issue at times.
The outdoor temperature rose several degrees through the day and while specific figures weren’t provided, the 9,500-seat venue was well attended with vocal fans cheering on both teams.
Mouat settled for a single in the first end when his open hit rolled out. Gushue made a draw against two in the second end but his hit-and-roll attempt in the third didn’t curl enough, setting up the Scot for a deuce.
Mouat made another uncharacteristic miss in the sixth end when he nosed a blank attempt.
That gave him a 4-2 lead but Gushue took hammer. The Canadians couldn’t take advantage and the veteran skip was forced to make a pressure draw against four for a single.
In the ninth end, Mouat made a brilliant rub and roll to sit two at the button for a critical deuce. Canada had a chance to make a run at tying it in the 10th but plans unravelled when vice Mark Nichols was short on a guard attempt.
Canada will play curling minnow Turkey on Friday morning before closing the round-robin schedule in the evening against Sweden.
Gushue, Nichols, E.J. Harnden and Geoff Walker were in full control earlier in the day against Germany.
“That was one of the few games where we didn’t get in a whole lot of trouble in any end and had to bail ourselves out,” Gushue said. “So that’s a positive. I think we minimized the mistakes.”
Gushue opened with a deuce and held Germany to a pair of forces over the first half, taking a 4-2 lead into the fifth-end break.
He tacked on another pair in the sixth and wrapped up the victory with a double-takeout for a deuce in the ninth end.
“We just played the scoreboard really,” Nichols said. “I thought we made a lot of good shots.”
Italy was alone in sixth place at 6-4. Japan’s Riku Yanagisawa lost twice on the day to fall to 5-5.
Medal games are scheduled for Sunday.
Gushue lost to Edin in last year’s world final in Las Vegas. The St. John’s, N.L., skip, who won Olympic gold in 2006, earned his lone world title in 2017 at Edmonton.
Kerri Einarson skipped the Canadian team to a bronze medal at last month’s world women’s curling championship in Sandviken, Sweden.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 6, 2023.
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