Americans waste golden opportunity
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Koe’s rink not in top form, but Canadian men remain perfect at 3-0
There was no shortage of drama and nothing came easily, but the results were great for Team Canada on Sunday at the world men’s curling championship.
Kevin Koe’s Calgary foursome had to play a pair of extra end games in Basel, Switzerland, including one in which they didn’t have the hammer in the 11th, and on both occasions they came out on the winning end.
The second victory, which improved Canada’s record to 3-0, was a wild affair against a John Shuster-led United States squad given ample opportunity to win.
After the teams battled to a 9-9 tie through 10 ends, Shuster had an opportunity to make a relatively routine double with his last rock in the 11th, but hit it thin and wound up giving up the steal of one.
It was just that kind of inconsistent day for Shuster, who made a spectacular long raise double in the ninth to score three and take what seemed like a commanding 9-7 lead.
TSN commentator Russ Howard said Shuster, who is known for trying the circus shots, made a stunningly good throw to remove the Canadian red stone from the button.
“If you said to yourself you could make that one out of 10 times, you are lying,” Howard said. “It was tougher than that. One out of a hundred maybe. What a brilliant shot.”
Unfortunately for Shuster, who is now 1-2, it went to waste.
On a day when Koe was struggling mightily with his draw weight — he shot just 63 per cent on draws — the Americans had a golden opportunity to beat Canada for the first time since 2007 at a world championship.
In the extra end, Canada hoped to set things up to make Shuster draw in deteriorating ice conditions. A slight miss on Koe’s last rock ruined that plan and gave Shuster, who was 87 per cent on his hits throughout the game, a chance for the takeout. It was a glorious chance he couldn’t capitalize on and it left Koe looking almost sheepish about the win.
“You can’t lose games like that and expect to win a world championship,” Shuster said. “We played great and we’ve played better every game so we can build off that. But we gotta win those ones, bottom line. No reason to sugar-coat it.”
Without question, the Canadians will have to be much better than they were Sunday if they want to be in the 1-2 playoff game at the end of the week.
“It’s hard for us,” Koe told reporters. “We’re just so used to making so many shots and we’re missing by 20 feet, easy. It’s tough to get draw weight out there.”
Big rally
Sunday’s early game was another high-scoring affair and Canada had to rally from a 5-2 deficit after five ends against Rasmus Stjerne of Denmark.
The Canadians, including third Marc Kennedy, second Brent Laing and lead Ben Hebert, were frustrated early in the game, struggling with the ice and their draw weight, but they were much stronger in the final five ends and held the hammer in the extra.
Koe had to make a come-around tap back to remove a buried Danish stone in the 11th. He nailed it to score three for an 11-8 win and a sigh of relief.
“Obviously it feels good just to get the win, just with the way the game went,” Koe said. “We really struggled with draw weight that game and the ice was a little tricky. But just to hang in there and give ourselves a chance felt good. We made the shots we needed at the right time.”
Leaderboard
The Canadians are tied for first place with defending world champion Niklas Edin of Sweden at 3-0, while Denmark, Norway, Russia, Japan and Scotland all have two wins in the first three draws.
Clearly not at their best, the Canadians took some satisfaction at having been able to still put together three victories.
“One thing our team has been real good at all year is grinding,” Hebert said. “We came through the 3-4 game at the Brier, a lot of Band C-event qualifiers to win spiels. We’re not planning on going undefeated but we’re certainly happy. Today wasn’t our ‘A’ game but we’re battling and maybe we can come out Monday with a couple better performances.”
Added Koe: “Honestly, I’m not really worried. We escaped a little today but we’re 3-0.”
Pebbles
Canada has a 57-14 record all time at the world championship against the United States and it was Canada’s 10th straight round robin win over the Americans ... Canada plays two more games Monday, against Tom Brewster of Scotland and Yusuke Morozumi of Japan ... Canada’s shooting percentages somewhat belie their perfect record. Koe is at 83 per cent overall through three draws, while Kennedy is at 85 per cent, Laing at 84 per cent and Hebert at 82 per cent.