Las Vegas, United States – In what will be an exact re-run of the 2017 final, defending world champions Canada will face Olympic silver medallists Sweden in Sunday’s (8 April) gold medal final of the 361° World Men’s Curling Championship 2018 in Las Vegas, United States.
To get there, Canada beat Scotland by 9-5, while Sweden had an extra end 9-8 win over Korea in Saturday’s (7 April) semi-finals.
The gold medal final will be at 17:00 on Sunday, with the bronze medal game at 12:00. Both games are live on national Broadcasters and World Curling TV and times are Pacific Standard Time.
In the first end of the game between Scotland and Canada, Scotland’s skip Bruce Mouat opened with a draw for two points and the early lead. Later, In the fourth end, with Canada leading by 3-2, Mouat played a double take out to score two points and take a 4-3 lead. Then, in the fifth end Canada’s skip, Brad Gushue, played a draw for one point to level the score-line at 4-4.
In the seventh end, Gushue hit out a Scottish stone to score three points and take the lead once again, this time with a 7-5 advantage. After this, Canada went on to win by 9-5 with steals in the eighth and ninth ends to and book their place in the gold medal final.
Earlier, Korea held a 2-1 lead over Sweden in their semi-final when, in the fourth end, Sweden’s skip Niklas Edin drew his final stone of the end into position to score three points, after an umpire’s measure, and take a 4-2 lead.
In the next end, Korea responded when their skip ChangMin Kim played a raise double take out to score two points and level the score at 4-4.
Sweden were 4-6 down after six ends after giving up a steal of two points, but Edin made amends in the seventh end, playing a hit out off a Korean stone to score two points and level the score again, at 6-6
In the eighth end, with three Swedish counters already in the house, skip Kim hit out one of them to score one point and take the lead, at 7-6. In the ninth end, Edin drew his last stone into the house to score two points and give Sweden the lead again, at 8-7, the fifth time the lead had changed hands in this game. After this, Kim’s Korean team-mates swept his final draw of the tenth end into the house to score one point, tie the game at 8-8, and force an extra end.
In that extra end, another draw by Edin gave Sweden the one point they needed for their 9-8 win.
Before the gold medal final between Canada and Sweden, Korea will play Scotland for bronze medals.
They said it
Niklas Edin; skip, Sweden (after 9-8 extra end semi-final win over Korea): "That was a tough one. We’ve been playing close to perfect curling for a week and a half and then having to come out there and literally having no idea what to throw. It was tough, we had to fight both ourselves and the ice to try to stay in that game and not get too frustrated. It was tough for both teams and they made us play some tough shots. In the end we were really happy to come home with the hammer. I’ve seen this team before this year. Their skip is a good thrower and a good tactician."
Brad Gushue; skip, Canada (after 9-5 semi-final win over Scotland): “I feel great. I thought it was a great game. I thought we handled the ice as well as we could. We made some big shots and a good win.
“Niklas and his team are a great team, they're one of the best in the world and they have hammer starting out. So, really for the first five ends I think it's going to be about trying to wrestle the hammer back. I certainly expect a tight game and for it to come down to the last rock.”
Results and standings
Quarter-final results: 3v6 – Canada 6-4 United States; 4v5 – Korea 7-5 Norway
Semi-final results: Sweden 9-8 Korea; Canada 9-5 Scotland
Standings after semi-finals
SF-W Sweden 12-1
SF-W Canada 10-3
SF-L Scotland 11-2
SF-L Korea 8-6
Norway 7-6
United States 6-7
Switzerland 6-6
Russia 5-7
Italy 5-7
Netherlands 4-8
Japan 3-9
China 3-9
Germany 1-11
To engage with the World Curling Federation on social media in the build to the 361º World Men's Curling Championship 2018 follow it on Twitter, Instagram (@worldcurling) and Facebook (/WorldCurlingFederation) and use the hashtags when posting: #WMCC2018 #curling
ENDS
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