The Ford World men’s curling championship round-robin preliminary wound up not with a whimper but with a 24-karat bang. Canada’s Jeff Stoughton of Winnipeg, the undefeated leader throughout, slipped a last-rock draw to the four-foot through the centre ring Thursday night, yielding Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud the theft of a 7-6 victory, Norway’s fifth straight with its back to the wall. Stoughton had chosen the draw option, facing two Norwegian counters.
Team Canada at the 2011 Ford World Men’s Curling Championship
(Photo: Michael Burns)
The loss was no big deal for the Canadian skip, who already had first place and a berth in the Page One-Two playoff locked up. But the win for Norway was immense. In fact, it kept the Olympic silver-medal-winning team in the competition.
A loss and Norway would have been out, providing France’s Thomas Dufour maintained his last-round 9-7 victory over Pete Fenson of the U.S.
The results of the late draw left Norway and France, both 7-and-4 on the week, headed into a sudden-death tiebreaker Friday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.
The winner was ticketed for a sudden-death date with Sweden’s Niklas Edin in the Page Three-Four playoff Saturday at 12:30 p.m. Edin, idle Thursday night, also finished 7-4 but claimed third place on the basis of the draw-shot challenge, a series of throws to the button prior to each round-robin game.
Stoughton, meanwhile, plays Scotland’s Tom Brewster in the One-Two playoff Friday at 7:30 p.m. The winner advances directly to the final on Sunday at 5 p.m. The loser will be in the semi-final Saturday at 5 against the Three-Four survivor.
Everybody else in the starting field fell by the wayside Thursday.
“All we care about now is the One-Two playoff game,” said Stoughton, who shared nine ways in an $18,000-and-change 50-50 draw made during the final round. “It was a great bonus,” he chuckled. “And we couldn’t be in a better position. We had a good game. There were a lot of great shots made. We have no concerns, no worries, a huge game against Scotland coming up.”
Stoughton shrugged when asked about his final shot against Norway after controlling the game throughout.
“I just threw it heavy,” he said, matter-of-factly. “Just heavy on my draw, that’s all. I was trying to get out there a little bit more. The ice was the fastest we’ve played on all week.”
The loss failed to close the door on Norway, the second favourite heading into the championship.
“I guess we’ll find out on Sunday, or if we happen to lose we’ll find out on Saturday what it means,” said Stoughton. “I don’t know because we’re not playing him but we’re not thinking of anybody else but Scotland right now.”