Swedes Aiming For “90 Percent” at Vegas Worlds

It’s fun watching the pack of teams that are tied on the men’s world championship scoreboard.

At one point on Monday, nine teams were tied for third place. As day four begins in Las Vegas, there are five teams now tied for second.

Canada’s Brad Gushue won their sole Monday tilt over Italy to remain undefeated at 5-0. Second place is owned by surprising Germany—who won 11-4 over Finland but fell 6-4 to Scotland—as well as three teams expected to challenge for the playoffs—Olympic champions Sweden. and perennial contenders Scotland and Switzerland.

Niklas Edin’s squad also defeated the Finns, 7-2 in just seven ends. “The good thing is that the ice is a lot better now and a lot more consistent,” said Edin. “If it stays like this, you’ll see 90 per cent from us.

“Our form is good. We had a good start there and that helps. I think now we can keep doing what we did at the Olympics, and that worked well.”

Gushue, who lost the Olympic semifinal to Edin and eventually won bronze in Beijing, agreed with Edin’s comments about the playing conditions.

“We were just trying to execute shots and get a better feel for the ice,” said Gushue. “The ice was better today than it has been in the past four games and we picked it up pretty early. We had some success with hammer and I think part of that was getting set up with the first four rocks, then it was just a matter of me and Mark (Nichols) not messing it up.”

Yannick Schwaller’s Swiss entry had no trouble with the Czechs, and led 7-1 at one point. The final score was 9-5.

“It feels like we’ve got a rhythm finally,” said Schwaller. “Everything was under control. We knew the ice, we could trust where the broom is, and that means a lot. But I hope we can still get better from here.”

Hosts USA won a key match over Norway. Korey Dropkin’s foursome scored twin three-enders in the sixth and eighth ends to take the match by a 10-8 margin.

The Italians and Koreans are both at 2-2, while three teams follow with 2-3 records—the Czechs, Finns and Norwegians.

Denmark is at 1-4 and the Netherlands are 0-4.

The top six teams qualify for the playoffs.