Sweden men secure the European semi-final place alongside Scotland
Defense Sweden defeated the Netherlands in Wednesday night’s (November 24) eighth – and penultimate – men’s round of the Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships 2021, which takes place in Lillehammer, Norway, to join table tops Scotland in qualifying for the semi-finals later this week.
The Swedes opened well and scored two points in the first end.
Then, in the fourth end, with his lead now at 2-1, Sweden’s jumper Niklas Edin played a draw and scored three points. Sweden then stole two points in the fifth final to take a 7-1 lead into the break.
The Netherlands responded with two points in the sixth end when their jumping Wouter Goesgens played a hit-and-stay, but Sweden retained control and won 8-7.
At the same time, Scotland faced the Czech Republic. In the first end, the Scottish jumper Bruce Mouat put two points on the scoreboard with an open hit.
A score of three points in the third end, followed by the theft of two points in the fourth and fifth end gave the Scots an impregnable lead on the way to a 10-5 win. Scotland will now be guaranteed to finish the round robin in first place.
After the match, Scotland’s Mouat said: “We are looking forward to the play-offs, with a hammer and stone selection. You are playing for medals at that time, so it is important that you get off on the right foot, having a hammer in those matches is where you want to be. ”
He continued, “We have a tough match against Norway now and a tough match is exactly what you want just before the playoffs. It will get us in the mood to play some press shots, and Norway is the best opponent to do that against.
Italy wins the second match of the day and holds third place
Italy took their second victory of the day and beat Germany 11-5, and this result places them in a shared third place along with Norway.
After breaking the first end, Italy’s jumper Joel Retornaz played a double-header to open the scoring with three points.
Germany responded with three own points in the second end. Then their jumper Sixten Totzek played a tight draw on the button in the fifth end to score a point and reduce Italy’s lead to 5-4.
Italy then controlled the second half and ended the match with four points in the ninth end.
This keeps Italy’s qualifier alive and afterwards ship Retornaz said: “It was a good win. We needed this win because we need it tomorrow to advance in this competition. We are very proud of what we have achieved today – both wins … two good teams, and the good thing is that we perform very well. ”
He added, “We are still in the hunt and the good thing is that it depends on us – it does not depend on other people or what they do on the ice. We just need to go out, play our best match, then take home a win and take us to the playoffs. ”
Norway played against Finland in this session, and in the fifth end, their skipper Steffen Walstad played a controlled tap shot to score three points and take a 6-3 lead at the break.
Norway went on to win, 9-4, to join Italy in third place, which kept their playoff campaign alive.
In the fifth match of this session, Switzerland met Denmark. In the third end, with the Danes leading 2-1, Switzerland’s fourth player Benoit Schwarz produced a triple draw to score three points and give his team a 4-2 lead.
The Swiss had steals in the next three ends – including a steal of five in the fifth end where Danish jumper Mikkel Krause could only remove a single Swiss counter – to continue and win 12-2.
This result leaves Switzerland just outside the play-off positions on the table – along with the Czech Republic – and afterwards a deflated Swiss skipper Peter De Cruz said: “We knew when we entered the match that it’s not everything in our hands now and obviously I’m a little disappointed “How did it go this week? We expected to do a little better. For some reason mentally we could not be sharp enough.”
Watch all broadcast games from Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships 2021 online, exclusively at The curling channel.
Men’s Pass eight results: Germany 5-11 Italy; Czech Republic 5-10 Scotland; Netherlands 7-8 Sweden; Finland 4-9 Norway; Denmark 2-12 Switzerland.
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