Table-toppers Canada lost their unbeaten record to defending champions Norway who beat them by 9-3 in Tuesday evening's 11th session of round robin play at the Ford World Men's Curling Championship 2015 in the Scotiabank Centre, Halifax, Canada.
Norway opened with a score of two points in the first end and then moved into a clear 6-1 lead when their skip Thomas Ulsrud tapped back one of his own stones in the third end to score four points.
In the sixth end, another tap-back by Ulsrud to put one of his own stones on the button produced one point for a 7-2 lead.
He sealed the win with a double take-out and stay for two points in the eighth end, after which Canada conceded.
Norway and Canada now share joint top spot in the standings with the same won six, lost one record.
After the game, Ulsrud said: "We showed up to play tonight. The boys made some really good shots. Tonight we had real comfort in the ice and everything. We were a bit lucky to score four in the third end and after that it was really a game they had to go all out and we managed to defend."
When this session started, Switzerland were in joint second position with Norway as they faced Sweden.
The teams swapped single point scores in the first two ends but after this the Swedes scored two points in the third end, stole a further two points in the fourth end and then had a three point steal in the fifth end for an 8-1 lead.
The Swiss scored one more point in the sixth end before conceding the game with a final score of 8-2 to Sweden.
Later, Sweden skip Niklas Edin said: "We needed to win that game badly. We decided to go out there with our heads held high and start strong from the beginning. We only got one point in the first end when we were wanting three or four. We forced them to only take one in the next end and it was pretty much our game from then on."
USA faced China in this session and it was the Americans who came out on top.
Their skip John Shuster succeeded with a tricky double take-out in the fourth end to score three points for a 5-2 lead.
In the ninth end, he scored three points again, this time with a well played draw-shot, for 9-5, after which China conceded.
After the game, USA second player Matt Hamilton said: "I felt like we generated a nice lead. John made a lot of nice doubles and made the mid-weight shots when he needed to. The part that is keeping me up is that we’re still not playing to our potential. We’re still missing shots on the wrong inch of the rock. I think if we can get that to turn around in the next couple of games we’re still in the hunt for the play-offs."
Russia faced Italy in the fourth game of this session and, after blanking the first two ends, it was the Russians who opened the scoring with a single point in the third end.
In the seventh end Russia skip Evgeny Arkhipov drew his second stone into the house to score two points and take a 4-3 lead.
The score was tied at 4-4 when the teams played the tenth end, and, with last stone, Arkhipov had a draw for the win.
His delivery was a little heavy, but an umpire's measure eventually confirmed he had been accurate enough to score the one point needed for a 5-4 victory.
RESULTS
Session 11: Switzerland 2, Sweden 8; China 5, USA 9; Italy 4, Russia 5; Canada 3, Norway 9.
STANDINGS
After 11 sessions of play (W-L):
1. Canada 6-1
1. Norway 6-1
3. Switzerland 5-2
4. Japan 4-3
4. Sweden 4-3
6. Czech Republic 3-4
6. Finland 3-4
6. USA 3-4
9. China 2-5
9. Italy 2-5
9. Russia 2-5
9. Scotland 2-5
During the round robin portion of a competition, teams with the same win-loss record will be listed alphabetically, by their three letter code, and ranked equal.
Results, news, videos and photos from the Ford World Men’s Curling Championship 2015 can be seen here on the World Curling Federation’s official event website: http://worldcurling.us3.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=0241c8190a96a3d4afd003317&id=0fe36450dd&e=23d1572579
For further information please contact:
Danny Parker
Media Relations - World Curling Federation
media@worldcurling.org
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