All LGT World Men’s Play-off teams confirmed on day six in Ogden

When the teams came onto the ice for Wednesday afternoon’s 16^th round-robin session at the LGT World Men’s Championship, four teams were tied at the top of the rankings, but none of them could yet be certain of play-off qualification.

Remarkably, because of how the arithmetic worked out, when the session was complete, all six play-off qualifiers knew their fate. In alphabetical order: Canada, Italy, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and United States all knew they had made it. What is left now in the remaining round-robin games is to determine the ranking order among them.

Matt Dunstone © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

In the morning session, Canada had beaten Switzerland by 8–7. In the tenth end of this game, with the score tied at 7–7, Canada’s skip Matt Dunstone played a perfectly-judged draw onto the button, completely untouched by his sweepers, to score one point and win the game, by 8–7.

Afterwards, Dunstone said, “I think the curling gods were looking after us there for us to land that. And I say, great on the sweepers for not laying a single broom down the entire way, that could have easily have been the difference. That was a game we dominated from pillar to post, so ultimately, it was a win that we deserved, it was just a little too close for comfort.”

Canada then came back onto the ice to beat Czechia by 9–5, to currently sit in joint second place, alongside Scotland and Switzerland.

Team Sweden © World Curling / Sarah Boeke

Sweden recovered from a nightmare two-defeat Tuesday with two wins on Wednesday. They bounced back with an 8–3 win over Germany, then followed that up with a 9–1 defeat of Poland in just six ends.

In the third end of their game against the Germans, with the score at 4–1 in Sweden’s favour, Germany’s skip Marc Muskatewitz had a draw attempt, but came up short, to give up a steal of two to the Swedes. This gave Sweden a 6–1 lead.

Then, in the fifth end, Sweden were leading by 6–2 when their skip Niklas Edin added two more points with a take-out of a German stone, for an 8–2 lead. Sweden went on to win by 8–3.

After this, Sweden’s Edin said, “Obviously, we had to play a lot better than yesterday. We needed to play well and get the win today, and we did that, so I’m really proud of the team and really proud of the performance.”

Sweden then had a comfortable 9–1 win over Poland, stealing in three of the six ends played. They now sit in top place on the rankings.

Scotland’s Ross Whyte and Craig Waddell © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

Scotland had two wins on Wednesday.

They faced China in the morning session and, in the sixth end, with the Scots already leading by 3–2, their skip Ross Whyte hit out the only China stone in the house, to score five points from the end and move on to an 8–2 lead. Scotland then went on to win by 9–3.

After this win, Whyte said, “Conditions have been great all week, so we’re very happy. To put seven wins in a row up there — I’m very pleased. Every game is really, really tough, so we’re always just thinking about the next game. It’s a cliché I know, but it’s all we can do.”

In the evening session, they faced a Norway team still looking for their first win. As has been the case all week, Norway battled hard but eventually, the Scots emerged as 7–5 winners. This result makes it impossible for Norway to avoid being relegated to next season’s world qualifier.

This Switzerland team, making their debut at this level, have gone about their business quietly and efficiently, and recovered from their morning loss to Canada with a 9–2 win over Korea in the afternoon session.

Team Switzerland © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

Against the three-man Korea team, Switzerland were already ahead by 4–1 when, in the fifth end, Korea’s skip Kim Changmin’s attempt at a tap-back was caught on a front stone giving Switzerland a steal of five and a 9–1 lead.

After this, Switzerland won by 9-2 and their skip Marco Hoesli said, “I wasn’t sure that we’d qualified, but now that we know, it just feels great and we’ll be just trying to keep it up.”

Later, Korea had a second loss of the day, when China beat them by 8–4.

Wednesday’s play saw United States win twice, to qualify for the play-offs. They beat Poland by 8–3 and followed that up with an extra end 9–7 win over Norway.

In the sixth end of their morning game against Poland, the Americans led by 4–2 when their skip John Shuster played a multiple take-out. He was looking to score three points, but had to settle for just two and a 6–2 lead. United States went on to win 8–3. Later, against Norway, Shuster used last stone advantage in the extra end to score two and win by 9–7.

Later, he said, “It was our goal to come here and play great and, if we did that, we expected to be playing on the weekend. We’ve really dialled it up and played really solidly. We’ve just got to keep executing now.”

Team Italy © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

Italy beat Japan, in their only game on Wednesday, to seal their play-off slot. In the eighth end, with Italy ahead by 4–3, Japan’s fourth player Yanagisawa Riku attempted to promote a few stones. This did not come off and, instead of scoring, he gave Italy a steal of one point and a 5–3 lead.

Italy went on to win by 6–4, as they too qualified for the play-offs.

Later, Italian skip Stefano Spiller said, “It feels good to be in the play-offs. We played very well there. It’s the first time I’ve made the play-offs in a senior championship. I’ll probably be under more pressure, but I just won’t have to think about it and play the shots.”

Before this game, Japan had lost to Czechia by 7–6, after an extra end.