2024-04-05 20:27:00
Canada punched its ticket to the semi-finals of the World Men’s Curling Championship on Friday with two convincing victories.
Brad Gushue and his Newfoundland and Labrador team of Mark Nichols, EJ Harnden and Geoff Walker defeated Japan 9-3 to start the day, then Switzerland 8-1. They are 10-2 at the end of the preliminary round.
The top six teams qualified for the playoffs. The first two positions gave a bye to the semi-finals. Niklas Edin and Sweden (11-1) also reached the final four.
Canada finished with the same record as Scotland, but the tiebreaker worked in their favor as they won the match against the Scots.
Gushue needed only six ends to defeat Switzerland (6-6), who had been eliminated earlier in the day with a 7-6 defeat at the hands of the Germans.
After a scoreless first end, Canada gave itself a four-point cushion in the second. Gushue added to his lead with steals of one in the third and two in the fourth.
Earlier, the representatives of the maple leaf easily defeated the Japanese Shinya Abe, also in six ends.
After Japan (3-9) made it 1-1 after two ends, Gushue took control of the match with three points in the third end and four more in the next end.
The Canadians added another point in the fifth end. The Japanese scored two points in the sixth before conceding the victory.
Gushue lost 6-5 to Edin and Sweden on Thursday, thereby ending its five-game winning streak.
Scotland, Germany, Italy and the United States will play in qualifying before the semi-finals on Saturday.
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