Gushue rink falters as playoffs loom

LAS VEGAS — A spot in the playoffs secured at the men’s world curling championship, Canada’s Brad Gushue says his team has work to do to peak for them.

The defending champions were 8-2 behind Sweden’s Niklas Edin and Scotland’s Bruce Mouat tied at 9-1 after play concluded Thursday.

With former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper watching at the Orleans Arena seats, Canada lost 6-5 to Greg Persinger of the U.S. on Thursday night. Gushue had won seven in a row prior to that loss.

Gushue beat China’s Dejia Zou 7-4 earlier in the day.

Canada, Scotland, Sweden and Norway’s Steffen Walstad (7-4) are assured of four of the six playoff berths. Those teams will jockey for playoff seedings Friday when the preliminary round concludes.

Gushue faces Edin in the morning draw before wrapping up against Germany (1-9) at night.

“The key is really tomorrow for us, we’ve got to find that next level,” Gushue said.

“We’re not where I’d like us to be. I feel my game is not where I’d like it to be and so there’s certainly some frustration there.”

Switzerland’s Mark Pfister at 6-4, Russia’s Alexey Timofeev and South Korea’s ChangMin Kim tied at 5-5, and the U.S. at 4-6, were chasing the fifth and sixth playoff berths today.

The Scots beat Canada on the first day of the tournament and would be ranked higher in the event of a tied record.

Under the new format this year, six teams makes playoffs instead of the traditional four. The top two get byes to Saturday’s semifinals.