OTTAWA — Minutes after losing game three of the World Men’s Curling Championship Thursday night, Brad Gushue and his fellow Canadians are back on the ice at TD Place.
An impromptu coaching session was followed by bench discussions.
A 6-3 loss to Scotland’s Bruce Mowatt left Canada in the qualifiers 7-3 with one day remaining in the quarter-finals. But there is a lot of work to be done if the home team is to compete this weekend.
“We’ll talk about it and try to make changes,” Joshoi said.
Captain St. John’s, NL, looked strong against the small lights in the 13-team ballpark, but its losses came to teams higher in the standings.
Swiss Yannick Schaller (10-1) ranked first, ahead of Swede Niklas Edin (9-1) and Scotsman and Norwegian Magnus Ramseller (both 8-2).
Canada and Sweden will meet on Friday night in a rematch of last year’s final. Edin won the 2022 title in Las Vegas.
Gushui, backup Mark Nichols, second EJ Harnden and captain Jeff Walker looked strong in a comfortable 9-4 victory over Germany’s Sixteen Totzik, 9-4 in the morning game.
The Canadians were far from repeating the effort in the evening in front of a large, boisterous crowd at the 9,500-seat venue.
“(Tonight) we had a lot of dirty shooting and we didn’t put any real pressure on Bruce,” said Joshua. “I don’t think there was an ending where he was really afraid.”
Canada and Scotland both made mistakes early on when they tried to level.
Mouwat settled for a single at the start of the open throw. Gushue tied it against two in the second end, but a shot attempt in the third didn’t fluctuate enough, pitting the Scotsman against the Devil.
“We executed very badly,” Goshui said. “We threw a lot of bad stones tonight.”
Mouat missed again in uncharacteristic fashion late in the sixth when he completed his attempt from close range. Gushue could not make use of the hammer and had to draw four to one.
“When you throw it wrong and don’t give the rocks a chance, you’re going to burn because the best teams are going to follow it up with a fake shot,” Josio said.
In the ninth end, Mouat made a great scrub and rolled for a two-out to sit on the button. Canada was lucky to tie for 10th, but plans fell apart when Nichols missed the trial guard.
Canada will face Turkish Curling on Friday morning before taking on Edin.
Italy’s Joel Retrinaz (6-4) and Japan’s Reiko Yanagisawa (5-5) were the only two teams to reach the sixth and final place in the qualifiers. The medal matches are scheduled for Sunday.
Earlier Thursday, Gushue opened the game with a tiebreaker and held off Germany against two powerhouses in the first period, taking a 4-2 lead late in the fifth.
He made another pair save in the sixth and clinched the win with two hits to tie the game in the ninth end.
“We really played to the scoreboard,” Nichols said. “I think we did a lot of good shots.”
Gushue settled for silver in his last two World Championship appearances. He won Olympic gold at the 2006 Turin Games and his only world title came in 2017 in Edmonton.
Keri Einarson led the Canadian team to a bronze medal at the World Women’s Curling Championships last month in Sandviken, Sweden.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on April 6, 2023.
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