Sweden first to qualify for the semifinals while Denmark wins the first match
They were taken all the way to an extra finish, but eventually a confident second hit by skipper Mikkel Krause for the decisive final point gave Denmark a 6-5 victory over Norway for its first victory so far, in Monday afternoon’s eighth men’s round robin session.
Other session winners were leaders Sweden, second place Great Britain and third place Canada.
Denmark started the scoring against Norway with a single point in the first end and the Norwegians then equalized in the second.
The Danes led 2-1 when Norway skipped Steffen Walstad in the fifth end missed a selection attempt, which gave Denmark a steal of one and a 3-1 lead at the break.
Norway responded immediately when ship Walstad played a hit for two points to level the game to 3-3 in the sixth end.
After this, the team exchanged single points and when Walstad hit one and 5-5 in the tenth end, an extra finish was needed.
In the end, Krause faced two Norwegians when he came to play the last stone.
He had to wait for some technical work on his last stone before he coldly delivered a nostril for the one point that gave his team its victory.
After this win, a satisfied Danish second player Henrik Holtermann said: “It felt good today that we got our first win. It was a very long time coming. We have been looking forward to it for a long time and we have not really performed as we wanted, and as we know we can, so getting the first win was really good. ”
ROC vs. Sweden
Sweden were still undefeated when they met ROC in this session and their perfect record secured them first place in the semifinals.
The Swedes took a 4-1 lead into the break after ROC jumper Sergei Glukhov fell short with his last draw and gave Sweden a steal of one in the fifth end.
ROC scored second in both the sixth and eighth finals to reduce the Swedish lead to 6-5 after eight finishes. Then, after hitting the ninth, the Swedish jumper Niklas Edin played a draw for a point in the tenth and a win of 7-5.
This was a sixth win for the undefeated top of the table.
Switzerland v Great Britain
Britain’s 6-5 win over Switzerland placed them in a clear second place behind Sweden, with five wins and one loss.
British jumper Bruce Mouat made the first breakthrough of the match, with a draw two points in the fourth end and a 3-1 lead.
Switzerland then scored one in the fifth. Mouat captured a front guard with his last stone of the sixth, to give Switzerland a steal of one that leveled the match at 3-3.
The match was again even in the tenth end, 5-5.
With his second stone, Mouat cleared out his own stone as well as a Swiss stone that froze on it, to make one and win 6-5.
After this win, Britain’s third player Grant Hardie said: “We knew the importance of that game, so we are relieved. It was a huge match for the standings, and also against a fantastic team, so we are delighted to be at the top.”
He added, “The snack at the fifth-final break was to make sure we score on the even ends and obviously that it steals [in the sixth end] does not go to the playing field. We had to regroup there and it could have gone anyway. Thankfully, Bruce made the winning shot at ten – he looks really comfortable out there. ”
Canada vs. Italy
Canada faced Italy in the fourth match of this session. This was another tight match until halfway, with the score tied at 2-2.
In the sixth end, Canada pushed the lead by two points for a 4-2 lead.
Italy could only score a single point in the eighth end, and three more points for Canada in the ninth – to take the score line to 7-3 in their favor – was enough to persuade Italy to concede.
Speaking later, Canada second Brett Gallant said “We played a little sharper in the last two games than we were in the first. We only took advantage of the few opportunities they gave us, but it was a pretty well curled match by both teams. We feel much better today than a couple of days ago. ”
This win and losses for both ROC and Switzerland give Canada a clear third place in the table.
Results for men’s workout eight: Canada 7-3 Italy; Denmark 6-5 Norway; ROC 5-7 Sweden; Switzerland 5-6 Great Britain
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