(Las Vegas) Brad Gushue’s Canadian team lost the flag in Sunday’s World Men’s Curling Championship final, 8-6 against Sweden in Las Vegas.
Posted yesterday at 10:46 p.m.
The quartet of Niklas Edin, Olympic champion in Beijing, won a fourth straight world title and a sixth overall.
Edin held the hammer at 6-6 in the tenth end and Sweden scored two points when Gushue was unable to graze his rock to the right of the house only to roll behind two Swedish rocks at the top of the four-foot circle.
Instead of putting all the pressure on Edin’s last stone, the final ended with a missed shot.
From the first end, Edin forced Canada to take a point and he did not release the pressure, taking advantage of each Canadian mistake. Gushue did go for a draw in the ninth, but was forced to take the point. Then, in the tenth end, Walker had his second rock knocked out because it never crossed the line of play.
Canada finished first in the group stage with a 10-2 record. Sweden took the second tier with a 9-3 record.
Gushue’s team only won the World Cup in 2017.
The Gushue team, consisting of vice-captain Mark Nichols, second player Brett Gallant and first player Geoff Walker, spent two Olympic cycles together, but were in their last competition. Gallant will leave the roster at the end of the season.
Joel Retornaz’s Italian quartet defeated that of American Korey Dropkin 13-4 to clinch the bronze medal earlier in the day in the small final.
Retornaz completed the knockout in the seventh end, scoring six points.
Dropkin threw for 59%, the lowest percentage in the tournament, while Retornaz hit 77% of his shots.