OGDEN, Utah — It was another tough afternoon for Matt Dunstone and Team Canada at the World Men’s Curling Championship on Sunday afternoon.
One day after losing in seven ends to Scotland’s Ross Whyte, it was the United States’ turn to post a big win over Canada, as John Shuster and crew controlled the game early, put up four in the fifth end and went on to a 9-3 seven-end victory.
As a result, Dunstone and his rink of third Colton Lott, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden fall to 2-2 after opening the tournament on Friday with back-to-back wins. The U.S. improves 2-2
Shuster, third Chris Plys, second Colin Huffman and lead Matt Hamilton had the hammer in the first end and were left with a draw full four foot for a pair with Shuster’s final shot. Some hard last-minute sweeping would get it there for the deuce and a quick 2-0 lead.
A nice double takeout by Dunstone with his first shot of the second end looked like Canada could get two back, but Shuster came back with a hit and stick to sit shot with his last rock, and Dunstone followed with the same shot to pick up a single point.
Dunstone made a nearly perfect draw freeze to so sit shot rock on the button with his last shot the next frame, and Shuster had the touchiest of touch feather ticks to put up a multiple point end. He’d make it perfectly, picking up another pair and taking a 4-1 lead.
The U.S. had control of most of the fourth end, laying three around the 12 foot and shot rock in the four at Dunstone’s last shot. He’d make the takeout and stick for one to cut the lead to a pair.
Things came apart for Canada the next end, as Dunstone attempted a draw into the four foot to try and limit a big U.S. end, only for his rock to stop five feet short of the house. That left Shuster with a wide-open draw for four, he’d make no mistake, and Canada was on the ropes with an 8-2 deficit.
Things didn’t go much better when Canada had the hammer the next end, as the U.S. lay four all around the house at Dunstone’s final shot. He’d draw full four foot to save another ugly end, and the U.S. had a five-point edge through six.
Knowing that Canada was on the verge of shaking hands, Shuster kept things clean in the seventh, eventually getting a hit and stick on the edge of the 12-foot to finish the game with a 9-2 victory.
Other results from the afternoon draw saw Scotland defeat Poland’s Konrad Stych 7-2 in seven ends, China’s Xiaoming Xu score four in the ninth in a 9-4 win over Norway’s Andreas Haarstad and Switzerland’s Marco Hoesli down Czechia’s Lukas Klima 9-7 in an extra end.
Games in the morning draw saw Sweden’s Niklas Edin take a 7-3 win over Japan’s Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi, Korea’s Changmin Kim score one in an extra end to defeat Czechia 7-6 and Italy’s Stefano Spiller scoring a pair in the 10th for a 7-5 victory over Germany’s Marc Muskatewitz.
Standings through seven draws are as follows:
Sweden (Edin) 4-0
Switzerland (Hoesli) 4-0
Scotland (Whyte) 3-2
Canada (Dunstone) 2-2
China (Xu) 2-2
Germany (Muskatewitz) 2-2
Italy (Spiller) 2-2
Japan (Yamaguchi) 2-2
Korea (Kim) 2-2
United States (Shuster) 2-2
Czechia (Klima) 1-4
Poland (Stych) 1-3
Norway (Haarstad) 0-4
Canada plays two games on Monday as they take on Poland in the 9 a.m. draw and Japan in the 7 p.m. draw. Both games will be broadcast on TSN and you can follow along online at livescores.worldcurling.org.
