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By Shawn Slaght
Team Canada has guaranteed itself a spot in the playoffs this weekend at the BKT World Men’s Curling Championship at Temple Gardens Centre in Moose Jaw.
Canada put together a dominant performance against Switzerland in the evening draw on Thursday, coming away with a 10-4 victory.
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As a team, they curled an unheard of 97 per cent, while skip Brad Jacobs curled 98 per cent and second Brett Gallant curled 100 per cent.
“I hope we play like that going forward,” said lead Ben Hebert. “That was my best game of the year. That’s as good as we can play. Not many misses by us, a bunch of great line calls, really good strategy. Our game plan was awesome. Brad was amazing. If we play like that, we’re going to be tough to beat. Hopefully we can keep that up.”
“For me, down at the other end, it’s just such a pleasure to see the guys throw the rock like that,” added Jacobs.
“I was saying ‘clean’ a lot. Marc (Kennedy) made a couple of runbacks in that game where I said ‘clean’ almost the entire way down the sheet, and that is ridiculous.”
Canada now sits with a record of 9-1, and with a win on Friday against Austria, will more than likely clinch one of the two top spots in the standings.
“For me, I want to be the best player and the best team at the end of the week, not the start of the week,” said Kennedy.
“It’s been a week of trying to get used to the ice, the conditions and the crowd, getting through this tough stretch of morning games so we can really have good energy and feel great going into the final weekend. So far, we couldn’t have scripted it any better. I think we’re feeling good going into the weekend.”
The Swiss held last rock to open the game and blanked the first end. Facing a slew of Canadian rocks in the house in the second end, Swiss vice-skip Benoit Schwarz-Van Berkel, throwing fourth stones, made an in-off to tap his own rock to the button. It went to a measurement, and it was one point for Switzerland.
In the third, Schwarz-Van Berkel rolled out with his last rock, and Jacobs made an open draw to score two.
With Jacobs’ first rock in the fourth end, he made a perfect freeze to the Swiss stone on the back of the 12-foot rings. Schwarz-Van Berkel countered by going around the corner guard to lay one. Jacobs came up a bit heavy with his last, and Schwarz-Van Berkel tried a tap-back for two but didn’t move the Canadian rock far enough and had to settle for one.
Facing one in the fifth, Jacobs made a double takeout to score three, giving Canada a 5-2 lead at the fifth-end break.
Schwarz-Van Berkel, with his first rock in the sixth end, attempted to split his own but missed, leaving Jacobs with an open hit to lay five. Schwarz-Van Berkel then came up short on his draw, giving Canada a steal of one.
Facing a pair of Canadian rocks with his first shot of the seventh end, Schwarz-Van Berkel made a double to try and generate points. He was left with a light takeout to score two, making it 6-4 in favour of Canada.
Canada once again put pressure on the Swiss in the eighth end. Jacobs made a short runback takeout with his first to lay three. Schwarz-Van Berkel’s draw to the button was heavy, leaving Jacobs a shot for four and a 10-4 win.
In other action:
Korea pulled off a massive upset, defeating the United States 5-3 to get their first win of the championship.
Norway scored four with the hammer in the sixth end and stole one in the seventh and two in the eighth to defeat Japan 11-5.
Tied 4-4 heading into the 10th end, Sweden scored one with the hammer to come away with a 5-4 win over Czechia.
