Defending world and Olympic champions, Sweden faced previously unbeaten Canada in Wednesday morning’s 12th session of round-robin play in the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, United States.
In a close fought game, Sweden secured a 7-5 win.
This session also saw, Switzerland defeated Denmark, 7-0 in just six ends; Korea beat Italy, 10-5; and United States claim an 8-3 victory over Netherlands.
Canada versus Sweden
Canada opened the scoring in the second end of their game against Sweden, when Swedish skip Niklas Edin, was unsuccessful with a double take-out attempt, giving up a steal of one point.
The teams traded single-point scores over the next three ends and went into the fifth end break tied at 2-2.
Sweden stole a single point in the sixth end, when Canada skip Brad Gushue was off target with his attempted runback, leaving a Swedish counter in the eight foot.
Canada bounced back with two points in the seventh end when Gushue played a precise draw into a busy house, to take a 4-3 lead.
Sweden hit back with two points of their own in the eighth end, before Canada levelled the score at 5-5 with a single point in the ninth end after Gushue came up short with his final draw attempt.
In the tenth end, Gushue’s freeze was slightly wide, leaving Edin with an open hit for two points and the 7-5 win.
This result moves Sweden into second place and gives Canada their first loss of the week.
Afterwards, Sweden skip, Niklas Edin said, “It was fun to play, definitely. It was back-and-forth, we made some good shots, some bad shots and there were opportunities both ways. It was a really fun game to play, tight on time too, so it made it really interesting I think, but a really good win for us.”
Switzerland versus Denmark
Switzerland blanked the first end of their game against Denmark, before opening the scoring with two points in the second end after Swiss skip, Yannick Schwaller drew his final stone into the four-foot.
Switzerland then stole a single in the third when Denmark skip Tobias Thune was unsuccessful with his double take-out attempt. The Swiss stole another single in the fourth end, when Thune caught a centre guard with his final stone take-out attempt.
A further single-point steal for Switzerland in the sixth end was enough for Denmark to concede, with the final score 7-0 to Switzerland.
Afterwards, Switzerland skip, Yannick Schwaller said, “Our team, as a team, played pretty good. The ice felt natural, line calling was good, judgement of the stones was good. It was just one of those games where we felt everything was going our way. Denmark was on a few occasions pretty unlucky. We don’t like looking ahead [to play-offs], we just go game by game and will come out this afternoon against the US.”
Korea versus Italy
Korea took an early lead in their victory over Italy when skip, Kim Soo-Hyuk, drew his last stone into the button to sit alongside two other Korean counters, to go 3-1 ahead.
Korea then stole a single point in the fourth, and two points in the fifth to take a commanding 6-1 lead into the break.
Italy fought back in the sixth, when skip Joel Retornaz played a cross-house double take-out to score three points and reduce the deficit to 6-4.
Korea extended their lead with a score of two points in the seventh. Then in the ninth, a take-out by Kim gave Korea another two points, after which Italy conceded with the final score 10-5 to Korea.
United States versus Netherlands
United States faced Netherlands and in the fourth end, with the teams level at 1-1, United States skip Korey Dropkin, was left with an open draw to the house for two points and the 3-1 lead.
Netherlands levelled the game again with two points of their own in the fifth end. Then after blanking the sixth, United States scored three in the seventh when Dropkin was again left with an open draw to the house with his final stone.
Single-point steals by United States in both the eighth and ninth ends were enough for Netherlands to concede defeat, with the score 8-3 to United States.
Session twelve results: Switzerland 7-0 Denmark; Korea 10-5 Italy; United States 8-3 Netherlands; Canada 5-7 Sweden
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