Canada, Norway, Sweden and the USA won on Tuesday morning
There were wins for Canada, Norway and the USA in Tuesday morning’s ninth round-robin session for men to keep their semifinal hopes alive.
At the same time, in the fourth match of this session, Sweden, which has already qualified, continued its undefeated record with its seventh straight win, with 8-3 over Denmark.
ROC against Norway
Norway and the ROC were pitted against each other, both aware that their campaigns could not afford more slips.
It was Norway who started stronger, opened with three points in the first end and stole four in the fourth end for an 8-1 lead.
ROC recovered in the second half of the match and scored two points in the seventh end when their defender Sergei Glukhov played a draw to reduce Norway’s lead to 9-5.
A single point for Norway in the eighth followed by a theft of two in the ninth, however, ended the match, where Norway went out as the winner with 12-5.
This was a third win for the Norwegians, who must now continue to win while hoping that other results go their way.
After the match, Norway’s other player Markus Hoeiberg said: “We are very happy with that match and happy to win. It felt like everything went our way in this match and we deserved the win there.”
He added, “We’ve had a couple of tough days, so we just tried to adjust and go out and have fun. It’s very fun to play out there, even if it does not go our way every game, but we are very happy with the result of this. “
Canada vs. China
China met Canada and led 5-4 at the fifth end, but Canada took back the lead at the sixth end and made two.
China put a single point on the board in the seventh and equalized to 6-6.
But in the eighth, a clearance attempt by China jumper Ma Xiuyue left two Canadian stones in scoring positions and Canada’s Gushue pulled a third and made three to a decisive lead of 9-6.
In the ninth, Ma scored two points with a hit-and-stay to reduce Canada’s lead to 9-8.
In the tenth, a tap-up sealed for a point of Gushue Canada’s 10-8 victory and their fifth win so far.
Switzerland vs. USA
Switzerland played against the United States, and thanks to a score of two in the second end, the Americans took a 3-2 lead into the break.
Switzerland then regained the lead in the sixth end, with a score of two for 4-3.
United Sates then made two of their own in the seventh to restore their lead, 5-4.
The Americans then advanced further in the eighth with a single steal for 6-4 when a runback attempt by Switzerland’s fourth player Benoit Schwarz did not really come off.
The United States added another single steal in the ninth end to build up its lead to 7-4.
Then, in the tenth, US ship John Shuster cleared out a Swiss rock in the house, to drive his opponents out of the rocks and win 7-4.
After the team’s win, third US player Chris Plys said: “We knew we needed it today, so it feels good to go and finish it – we start to feel better as the week goes on. Benoit [Schwarz – Switzerland] is one of the best shooters in all curling, so there were a few shots out there when we had to hold our breath, but it’s good to come out with a win. ”
Looking at his team’s ranking position, he also said: “All you can do at this time of week is have control over your destiny. And we have that now.”
Sweden against Denmark
Sweden met Denmark in the fourth match of this session.
The teams were even to 2-2 after five finishes, but in the sixth Sweden made a breakthrough when their ship Niklas Edin played a draw for three points and a lead of 5-2.
Another draw by Edin in the round of 16, this time for two points, led Sweden to a lead of 7-3, on its way to its final 8-3 win.
Afterwards, Edin talked about finding out that they had already qualified for the semi-finals and said: “We saw it on social media and were a little surprised. It didn’t really change anything, it was just happy news that we could spread, so ourselves and our “Fans are happy. But I think we are very focused on just playing really well one match at a time, but it feels like we are in a good position now.”
About the match against Denmark, he added, “We just checked the even ends and then got that three-pointer, also in an even end. After that, the match was almost over.”
After this session, undefeated Sweden remains the only team that has qualified for the semifinals, while Great Britain, which was out of the session, remains in second place, with five wins and one loss.
Canada’s win in this session moved them to third place in the table with the same five wins as the UK, but also with another loss.
The USA is fourth, but Norway and ROC – which share fifth place – still have realistic semi-final hopes.
Results nine men: ROC 5-12 Norway; Canada 10-8 China; Switzerland 4-7 USA; Sweden 8-3 Denmark
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