Canada’s Gushue overcomes early struggles to sink South Korea at men’s curling worlds | CBC Sports

A 9-4 score line flattered Canada in its round-robin win over South Korea on Wednesday morning at the world men’s curling championship.

With big games against the United States, Scotland and Sweden coming up over the next few days, Canada will need to pick up its play in the second half of the schedule at TD Place.

“This was a little bit of a step back,” said Gushue. “The first morning game of the week. Maybe [we were] a little groggy. We did have some execution errors that we couldn’t blame on ice or rocks. It was human error.

“If we can straighten that out, we’ll be OK.”

WATCH | Gushue leads Canada past South Korea at men’s curling worlds:

Brad Gushue leads Canada to victory over Korea at men’s curling worlds

Team Canada skip, Brad Gushue scores 4 in the 8th end to defeat Korea at the world men’s curling championship in Ottawa. Canada moves to 5-2 in round robin play.

Gushue and lead Geoff Walker had strong percentages but vice Mark Nichols and second E.J. Harnden were both in the mid-70s. Jeong, meanwhile, struggled with a game-low 64 per cent.

“It was a bit of a learning curve today,” said national team coach Jeff Stoughton. “It was almost like Day 1 again.”

The rocks were textured before the game. Gushue said the venue was noticeably cooler for the morning draw, adding the ice held up well.

“We didn’t execute as well as we had in the last couple of games,” he said. “We had some zeros out there and some bigger misses. But we hung in there and kept applying some pressure.”

Gushue was light with a draw in the fourth end but still picked up a steal when South Korea’s double-takeout attempt jammed. Jeong had a chance for two in the fifth but settled for a single when his draw was short.

“There’s no sense sugar-coating it,” Gushue said. “It was just bad throws. They are what they are.”

WATCH | That Curling Show — Gushue prepares to face world’s best on home ice:

That Curling Show: Team Gushue prepares to face the world’s best on home ice

That Curling Show hosts Colleen Jones and Devin Heroux catch up with bronze medallist Kerri Einarson after women’s worlds, preview the men’s world championship, announce a major team shakeup in Saskatchewan and release the schedule for next season’s Mixed Doubles Super Series.

Jeong missed the angle on a shot in the sixth end, giving Gushue an open draw for three. South Korea got a deuce back but Jeong’s hit and roll was off in the eighth, allowing Canada to draw for four.

The Canadians, now in a fourth-place tie with Scotland’s Bruce Mouat at 5-2, were scheduled to play 2018 Olympic champion John Shuster of the U.S. in the evening.

“We took a step back this morning, there’s no doubt,” Stoughton said. “But hopefully tonight we’ll start peaking again and getting more comfortable with the ice and the rocks and all should be good.

Norway’s Magnus Ramsfjell defeated Sweden’s Niklas Edin 8-7 in an extra end. That left both teams in a first-place tie at 6-1 with Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller.

The top six teams in the 13-team field will qualify for the weekend playoffs.

The top two seeds get byes to the semifinals. Medal games are scheduled for Sunday.

New Zealand’s Anton Hood earned his first win with an 11-8 victory over Germany’s Sixten Totzek. Scotland dumped Japan’s Riku Yanagisawa 9-2 in the other early game.

Japan and Italy’s Joel Retornaz were tied in sixth place at 4-3 entering the afternoon draw.

WATCH | Sweden’s Edin scores highlight deuce to force extra end:

Sweden’s Nik Edin forces an extra end with a must-see spinner

Swedish skip Nik Edin scored a must-see deuce to force an extra end by spinning his rock out of the hack. Despite the heroic shot, Sweden fell 8-7 to Norway in the extra end at the world men’s curling championship in Ottawa.