Swedes deliver Canada's first loss

It was as much of a heavyweight bout as there is in the world of curling.

And it just happened to take place at the curling worlds.

When all was said and done early Wednesday, however, it was Canada's Team Gushue taking it on the chin in a 7-5 loss to three-time defending global champ Niklas Edin of Sweden.

“I felt both teams played well,” said Canadian skip Brad Gushue, choosing to focus on the positives rather than his crew's first loss of the 2022 LGT World Men's Curling Championship. “If we play that sort of game against most teams out here, then we're going to be successful. But Niklas is on a different level than most of the teams here. We both made mistakes out there. Unfortunately, we made probably one more than they did.”

It wasn't much, but it was enough against a topshelf team such as Edin's. That came in the sixth end, when, with the game tied 2-2, Gushue's hammer on a runback to score two — or even three — didn't get to Sweden's shot-rock at the top of the eight-foot ring, giving the Edin rink a steal of one.

Two great shots — the second a perfect draw — by Gushue to cap the seventh meant the first deuce of the game for Canada.

However, Sweden answered right back with its own two in the eighth.

Down 5-4 in the ninth end, Canada had its shot for another two, but the skip's hammer didn't have enough curl and led to one.

That put the hammer in Edin's hands for an easy hitand-stick and the win.

“I had two misses there,” said Gushue. “Tough draw in nine, where we played down a new path and it was just a little slower than we all anticipated. But I think the big miss was in six. I need to make contact with that back rock there and at least get two or three. That certainly switched the momentum of the game.”