The Canadian Press
BASEL, Switzerland—Canada’s Kevin Koe clinched first place at the world men’s curling championship with a 6-4 win over Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud earlier today.
Koe now will play in tomorrow’s 1 vs. 2 Page playoff game for a chance to advance to Sunday’s final.
The Canadian rink had last-rock advantage to open their Draw 15 game, but had to settle for a single in the first end.
After Norway scored a deuce in the second, Canada replied with two of their own to make the score 3-2 through three.
With the score tied 3-3 in the seventh, Koe executed a hit-and-stick for two to take the lead for good.
Canada (9-1) takes on Switzerland in the final round-robin draw tonight (local time).
Koe missed a chance to clinch top spot yesterday after losing 4-3 to defending champion Sweden.
Canada pulled out two extra-end wins earlier in the tournament, but this time they came up short.
With Sweden holding the hammer in the 11th end, skip Niklas Edin made no mistake with his tapback for the victory.
“You never want to lose, obviously,” said Canadian lead Ben Hebert.
“We were 8-0 and playing pretty well,” he noted.
“We had lots of opportunities and we just missed them.”
Canada, which includes third Marc Kennedy, second Brent Laing, and alternate Scott Pfeifer, took the loss in perspective.
“No sweat,” said Hebert.
“We win tomorrow [Thursday], we’re in first place and in the 1-2 [playoff] game with hammer,” he reasoned.
“We’re going out tonight to have dinner with our families,” Hebert added. “We’re in Switzerland. We’re 8-1. It’s not the end of the world.”
