Six-end win!

Schweiz’s Schaffhausen — After securing a semifinal spot at the 2024 LGT World Men’s Curling Championship, presented by New Holland, Canada will skip the first round of the playoffs.

On Friday night at IWC Arena, Team Brad Gushue from St. John’s, Newfoundland defeated Team Yannick Schwaller of Switzerland 8-1 in the last round-robin match. With a 10-2 record, Canada secures a position in the semifinals, which start on Saturday at 10 a.m. (all times ET) and second place in the field of 13 teams.

“We don’t know what the ice conditions will be like tomorrow, what each team can do under such conditions, or who will perform the best. This is a distinct encounter. This goes beyond your standard

Gushue, second baseman E.J. Harnden, lead guard Geoff Walker, backup Kyle Doering, vice-skip Mark Nichols, coach Caleb Flaxey, and national coach Jeff Stoughton established early control of the game by blanking the first and putting together a succession of deft shots in the second to score a four-ender.Team Gushue had to smack their nose precisely for a short time on Canada’s first skip stone. The Swiss would have been set up for a double with any roll on the shot stone. The Canadians scored four with a thin angle rise on their next.

“Mark produced two excellent shots, and I added two more solid shots to his. Although the conclusion wasn’t planned out perfectly for us, it turns out well when Mark creates them.

Switzerland, a team that always makes the playoffs, lost its last four games and was taken out of the picture earlier in the day.We were a little unsure of what to anticipate following their elimination from the playoffs in the previous game. Would they be able to play with house money and remove some of the pressure? Or would they come out flat because it would be such a letdown? Luckily for us, Gushue said, it was the second.

Additionally, Canada stole in the third and fourth ends. Benoit Schwarz-Van Berkel, a fourth-rock thrower from Switzerland, gave up the single after attempting an in-off in the third. Switzerland tried a quadruple takeout in the fourth round, but they were only able to remove two Canadian stones, giving away two more.