Live Blog: Day one at the WMCC

Day one standings from the #WMCC2023 🚨 pic.twitter.com/Jph75pFHAr

— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 2, 2023

RESULTS | Session two from the #WMCC2023 👏 pic.twitter.com/DBCSCHxlas

— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 2, 2023

The Suspense! The game between Türkiye and Japan came down to the last stone in an extra end. Ultimately, Türkiye was slightly heavy on their draw attempt and lost to Japan.

It’s going to come down to the last end between Türkiye and Japan tonight! The score is currently 3-2 for Türkiye, but Japan has hammer.

Who will snatch the W? Stay tuned to find out!

It was a great night for Czech Republic as they won their game against New Zealand 8-1 after seven ends.

Czech skip Lukas Klima spoke after their win saying, “There are always things to work on, and we always try to build up through the week, but this was a solid performance.”

It has been a back-and-forth game between the Canadians and the Italians tonight! After exchanging scores of two in the first, third and fourth ends, Canada stole one in the fifth end and took three in the seventh end to take an 8-4 lead.

The Italians have hammer in the eighth end and are currently sitting one stone frozen in the eight-foot.

Here are your scores after the first five ends of play here in Ottawa:

Japan 1-1 Türkiye

Canada 5-2 Italy

United States 3-5 Norway

Czech Republic 6-1 New Zealand

Just for fun, here’s the view of the World Men’s action from the nosebleeds at TD Place. As you can see, the crowd in Ottawa is massive on this first day of competition. Imagine what it will look like at the end of the week!

Sheet D is hosting the face-off between Czech Republic and New Zealand this evening. The Czechs started the game on a positive note, scoring two in the first end.

Now after four ends, they lead the New Zealanders 6-1.

Session Two of the World Men’s is about to start!

Who are you cheering for? 📣#WMCC2023 #curling pic.twitter.com/BvpeDy2MEK

— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 1, 2023

Take a look at Scotland’s final stone in the tenth end!

Italy were sitting two, needing to steal one to tie, two to win. Scotland’s Bruce Mouat wasn’t going to let that happen.

After winning big in the opening draw, Sweden’s Niklas Edin spoke after the game saying, “We thought the ice conditions were perfect. It slowed down a little bit but that’s to be expected. I think we controlled it very well so nothing to change for the next game, I think we will try to do the same thing again.”

Following the opening ceremonies earlier, Glenn Duncan, Vice-President of Ottawa Tourism expressed his excitement over Ottawa playing host to the World Men’s.

“I was blown away and to see so many people here already for a two o’clock draw and all the nations coming out, the colour of the event, the different languages – I loved it.

It’s really all about showcasing ourselves as a world-class host city. We have so much support from our partners at the city and our stakeholders. We’re very aggressive about going after major events like this and we can hit the sweet spot in Ottawa. This is truly a wonderful event, and it fits really nicely with our community.

Curling can come back any time it wants! We have a life-long relationship with Curling Canada, and we plan to host multiple events.”

SHE SAID YES!!!! 💍 Congratulations to curling fans Brigitte Laplante and Chris Delage who got engaged at the fifth end break!#WMCC2023 pic.twitter.com/Y6FT6CV3lv

— Curling Canada (@CurlingCanada) April 1, 2023

The Germans just couldn’t slow down the Swedes as Sweden scored a single point in the sixth end to bring their lead to 8-2. That was enough for the Germans as they decided to concede and end the game early.

Neither team plays in the evening draw today so both teams can rest up for tomorrow!

Here in Ottawa, the crowd is very interested in Sheet A, with Switzerland playing Canada. Unfortunately for the Canadian fans though, the Swiss are on fire this afternoon.

After scoring two in the first end and another two in the fourth end, Switzerland hold a 5-1 lead over Canada, going into the fifth.

The Italians took an early lead in their game against the Scottish, scoring one in the second end and another in the third. In the fourth end however, Scotland pulled out all of the stops and scored a massive THREE to claim the 3-2 lead.

The match is now in the fifth end, Italy with hammer.

In case you missed it, here’s a snapshot of the World Men’s Curling Championship opening ceremonies. Recognize anyone?

In the final stone of the second end, Germany attempted a tricky light-weight tap to score two. Ultimately they weren’t able to move Sweden’s stone far enough, but still managed to score the single to get on the board.

The score is now 4-1, Sweden with the lead and hammer.

Sheet B. Second End. Korea v New Zealand. Two opposing stones surrounding the four foot. Team Korea asked for a measure and unlucky for them, the point went to the team from New Zealand.

The score is now 1-0 for New Zealand after two ends.

Team Sweden has come to play here in Ottawa, scoring FOUR in the first end of their game against Team Germany. There’s still nine ends to play though, so there’s plenty of time for Germany to get back in the game.

Let the games begin! 🥌🙌#WMCC2023 #curling pic.twitter.com/TXK9aBpCyg

— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 1, 2023

Let’s see who’s playing who in this first session of World Men’s Curling Championship play!

Canada v Switzerland

Korea v New Zealand

Sweden v Germany

Scotland v Italy

Who are you cheering for?!

Don’t worry if you aren’t able to join us here in Ottawa, you can still follow all of the action end-by-end by following the live scores!

https://worldcurling.org/live-scores

Hey curling fans! YOU can watch ALL of the World Men’s Curling Championship action this week LIVE! You heard that right, every game of every draw will be streamed on Recast!

https://wcf.co/CurlingChannel