Koe rink rights ship with win over Japan

All along, even in the midst of an uncharacteristic losing streak, Kevin Koe and his teammates insisted they were playing well enough to be medal contenders.

Turns out they were right. All four Canadian curlers were near the top of the rankings in terms of percentages at their respective positions and, on paper, it looked like they were in control.

Somehow, though, after starting out 4-0, they weren’t getting results.

First it was one loss, then two, then three in a row, a somewhat shocking slide for a country that has won three straight gold medals in men’s curling at the Olympics

The cool, calm demeanour the Canadian men showed during the losing skid paid dividends on Tuesday morning as Koe and Co., regrouped for a hard-fought 8-4 win over Japan. There was a little more intensity in their voices in this game, perhaps a bit more urgency to their game, with so much on the line, and the Canadians played very well against a resilient Japanese squad.

“We’re not rookies out here so we can tell if there’s glaring issues or mistakes or mechanical issues or things that are happening or if there’s tension on the team or guys aren’t getting along,” Canadian lead Ben Hebert said. “None of that was really happening. We were playing really good. We’ve played a hell of a lot worse than we were playing in those three losses and won a ton of games. The teams that are here are Olympic teams too and they ’re standing up and representing their countries well and we ran into three hot teams. Fortunately for us we came back today with a big win and we’re in a good spot.”

The victory improved the Canadians’ record to 5-3 and puts them back into position to make the playoffs and possibly even finish second — Sweden’s Niklas Edin (7-1) locked up top spot, while Switzerland, Canada and Great Britain are tied for second at 5-3.

“We’ve given ourselves a chance and that’s all you can ask,” Canadian second Brent Laing said.

“We know that Canada doesn’t lose three games in a row very often. Unfortunately it happened to both teams this week. But we’re still in it and we’ve put ourselves in position to get to the weekend.”

It has been a roller-coaster ride for the Canadian curlers in these Olympics. Rachel Homan’s team started the women’s tournament with three straight losses before rebounding for three straight wins. Koe’s team won four, then lost three. The third was a 9-7 decision at the hands of the United States on Monday afternoon.