Canada moved into a tie with China for first place after an 8-3 win over Norway in the Wednesday morning draw at the BKT World Men's Curling Championship at the Temple Garden Centre.
The Canadians improved to 6-1, tied with China, while three teams were clustered at 5-2.
"I think one of the main things we need to continue to do right now and moving forward is just stay mentally strong. We’ve played seven games, and we’ve got five more to go. We just have to make sure we get good rest and recovery between games here," said Canada's skip Brad Jacobs.
Lead Ben Hebert said the difference came down to reading the ice. He felt the Norwegians had a hard time adjusting to the swingy ice.
"They got caught on the over-curl a lot with the scratch. I doubt their arenas in Norway are hitting the rocks like that and making them curl as much, so they probably haven’t seen that quite as much, and we got a couple of misses out of them," said Hebert.
In the opening end, Norway held the last-rock advantage. Canada was laying one, and Norwegian third Martin Sesaker crashed on a guard attempting a takeout through a port. With Canada laying two on his final stone, Norway's skip Magnus Ramsfjell played a soft tap-back to score one.
Canada replied in the second end. Jacobs tapped his own rock into a wall of granite behind the button to score a single and tie the game.
In the third end, Ramsfjell's first rock looked good until it picked up some debris and ended up sliding through the house. Jacobs drew in, forcing Ramsfjell to draw for one against four Canadian rocks.
Things started to set up nicely for Canada in the fourth. Already laying two, Jacobs drew for three to take a 4-2 lead. Norway was forced to one in the fifth, making it 4-3 for Canada at the break.
Jacobs made a perfect freeze to a Norwegian rock at the back of the button with his first rock. Ramsfjell was able to clear the four-foot with an angle-raise takeout. Jacobs played a light tap-back with his last rock but rubbed the guard and stuck around in the house for one point.
In the seventh, Jacobs had a chance to hit and stick to lay six. However, his rock over-curled and wrecked on the guard, opening the door for Norway with the final rock. Ramsfjell tried to play a split in the four-foot for two. His shooter rolled away, and a measurement was needed for shot rock. It was Canada with a steal of one, making it 6-3.
Facing four Canadian stones in the house with his last rock in the eighth end, Ramsfjell attempted a double for one but lost his shooter, resulting in a steal of two and an 8-3 win.
Canada is back in action tonight in the 7 p.m. draw, when they take on Czechia, which sits with a record of 4-3.
In other action
Sweden opened with three points and stole one point each in the second and third ends as they cruised to a 7-1 win over the United States. Defending champion Niklas Edin is starting to heat up.
In a massive upset, Switzerland scored four in the fifth end to knock off Scotland 11-7.
Japan ran Korea out of rocks in the 10th end to take a 7-4 win.