And They’re Off

The first men’s team game winners have been declared as traditional four-player curling started at the Ice Cube in Beijing.

World champions and 2018 Olympic silver medallists Sweden defeated hosts China 6-4, Canada scored an eight-end 10-5 win over Denmark, Norway were 7-4 winners over Switzerland and the United States started their title defence with a 6-5 win over ROC.

In their game against China, Sweden established an early 3-0 lead with a steal of two in the fourth end when China skip Ma Xiuyue just feathered a guard with his final stone.

A further score of two in the seventh end with a draw into the house by skip Niklas Edin gave the Swedes a 5-2 lead, which they never relinquished.

John Shuster’s defending Olympic champions were down 3-2 at the fifth-end break after a ROC steal of two in the fourth. In the eighth end, with ROC still leading 4-3, Shuster played a split at the front of the house to roll two of his stones into scoring position and take two for a 5-4 lead.

After a ROC blank in the ninth, skip Sergei Glukhov wrecked on his last draw attempt and it took an umpire’s measure to determine a single point, which levelled the game at 5-5 and forced an extra end.

Shuster was then left with a draw to the four-foot rings to score the winning point.

“We had a lot of fun out there,” said Shuster. “The ice was amazing today. It was a definite grind of a game, but getting wins like that does nothing but help us build character and momentum for what’s going to be a long tournament.”

Canada scored on a hit for three in the third end to give them an early 4-2 lead over Denmark.

The Danes then levelled the game at 4-4 when skip Mikkel Krause split the house early in the end and went on to score a deuce.

Canada led 7-5 after seven ends when, in the eighth, skip Brad Gushue played a double takeout for three points and a 10-5 lead. Denmark then conceded.

“We’re still mapping out the ice and the rocks,” said Canada third Mark Nichols. “All things will come with early-game complications. Getting our draw weight is going to be key. Once you get that, then you’ll start to see more precise shots.”

Switzerland opened the scoring with a single in the first end. In the third end, fourth thrower Benoit Schwarz missed and Norway stole a point for a 2-1 lead.

Norway led 4-2 in the eighth end when Schwarz played a hit-and-stay for another pair and a 4-4 tie.

In the ninth end an umpire’s measure gave Norway two more points for 6-4 lead, and a single steal of one point in the 10th end completed Norway’s victory.

The match featured Norwegian third Torger Nergaard, competing in his record-setting fifth Olympic Winter Games, up against Swiss coach Havaard Vad Petersson, who teamed with Nergaard for 10 years as members of the Thomas Ulsrud foursome (silver at Vancouver 2010).