On a day considered by most prognosticators to be two free spots on the bingo card, sa国际传媒 came to the table with a leaky, half-filled dauber.
A 10-8 extra-end loss to Japan in the morning was followed by a tight 8-5 victory over 2-7 Russia at the 2013 Ford World Men鈥檚 Curling Championship at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
It was a split against the lesser-lights of the 12-team round-robin tournament that ends today and moves into tiebreakers (if required) and playoffs on Friday.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think there is a recipe on how to get to the playoffs,鈥� Ryan Fry, the third on Brad Jacobs鈥檚 Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., rink said after stealing one in the 10th end to finally finish off Russia鈥檚 Andrej Drozdov.
The earlier loss to Japan鈥檚 Yusuke Morozumi caused a state of alarm among many of those on hand, except for Jacobs, Fry, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden.
鈥淭here is no concern until I鈥檓 out of this event,鈥� stressed Fry. 鈥淥ur goal is to make the playoffs. That win almost solidified a spot in it. Now we get to regroup and start fresh for [today].鈥�
sa国际传媒 faces a much tougher task against Denmark at 2 p.m. today and wrap it up against Sweden at 7 p.m.
With the victory, Jacobs鈥檚 rink improved to 7-2, tied in first place with Scotland鈥檚 David Murdoch, who defeated Sweden鈥檚 Niklas Edin 8-7 in the night draw. Edin slips to 5-4. Denmark鈥檚 Rasmus Stjerne also kept pace at 6-3 in the standings with a key 7-6 extra-end victory over China鈥檚 Rui Liu who also fell to 5-4. The Czech Republic鈥檚 Jiri Snitil outlasted American Brady Clark 9-8 as the victor improves to 5-4, snapping the U.S.鈥檚 three-game win streak.
sa国际传媒鈥檚 two losses, however, have come against the Czech Republic and now Japan, two teams the country has never previously lost to at a world championship.
鈥淚 think the onus falls on me and Brad,鈥� said Fry. 鈥淚 think our front end played phenomenally. I started off slow against Japan and Brad struggled pretty bad and it leaked into tonight.鈥�
Jacobs was even harsher on himself after curling 72 per cent and allowing two three-enders to Japan.
鈥淚 personally curled terrible 鈥� horrible. I handed them two threes all by myself, so when your skip鈥檚 curling like that you鈥檙e not going to win many games,鈥� he stressed. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 even believe it went to an extra end.鈥�
E.J. Harnden, who admitted to feeling a little nauseous the last two days, didn鈥檛 see it that way.
鈥淲e all had our turns. You can never put the blame on one person. We lost that one as a team and hopefully we can win the next one,鈥� he said before returning to down Russia.
As for the rest of the field, the standings are now clogging up with tiebreakers a reality as the United States and Czechs make a run.
The upper echelon teams all want to finish in the top two to qualify for the Page Playoff 1-2 game.
鈥淲e鈥檝e always had that goal of the 1-2 game,鈥� admitted Scotland鈥檚 Murdoch, who easily defeated Norway鈥檚 Thomas Ulsrud 8-4 in the morning. 鈥淚 said at the start of the week that we needed to start well and we did, and now that we鈥檙e in the latter half, we need to seal the deal.
鈥淚f we can just take that confidence into every draw and get into that 1-2 game, we鈥檒l have a great chance in this event. That鈥檚 how we鈥檙e looking at it really. It鈥檚 a gunfight between all these teams trying to get into that 1-2 game. There鈥檚 no one safe right now.鈥�
