Gushue escapes with big win over Italy

Gushue squandered a gift to score two in the ninth end and come home with the lead when Mosaner’s shooter rolled out of the rings on a hit.

But Gushue also lost his shooter on an open hit for the deuce and took one.

Retornaz ticked on a Canadian guard in the eighth, and Gushue put the pressure on the Italians in an attempt to steal. Mosaner faced five Canadian stones in the rings but made his draw for a 7-6 lead.

The Canadian skip opted to draw for one in the seventh end and tie it up 6-6, instead of a risky takeout that might have yielded two.

Gushue’s attempted double takeout in the sixth didn’t pan out and his shooter rolled wide, which left Italy a draw for three and a 6-5 lead.

Mosaner’s runback double takeout in the fifth end negated Canada’s chance for a deuce. Gushue drew against two Italian counters for one and a 5-3 lead.

Canada couldn’t get the rolls in the fourth to set up a double takeout of Italian counters. Mosaner’s open draw for two had Italy trailing 4-3.

Mosaner lost his shooter on a pair of hits in the third end, leaving Gushue a draw for two and a 4-1 lead.

Mosaner got Italy out of trouble in the second with a double raise triple takeout. He faced a soft tap for two with his final stone, but hit Canada’s top stone too thick and scored one.

Mosaner left enough of his final draw exposed for Gushue to tap for two in the first end. A measurement for a possible third point went in Italy’s favour.

The top six teams in the preliminary round advance to playoffs with the top two getting byes to the Saturday’s semifinals. Teams three to six square off in the quarterfinals earlier Saturday.