Martin perfect no more
Published Friday April 10th, 2009
Canada loses to Scotland at world men's curling championship; rematch coming
Scotland's David Murdoch proved that Canada's Kevin Martin isn't invincible, after all.
Martin won't have to wait long for a chance at payback.
Murdoch earned a 6-5 extra-end victory in the marquee matchup of Draw 17 at the Ford World Men's Curling Championship last night at the Moncton Coliseum. Murdoch broke open a tightly played game by making a double takeout to score three in the eighth end.
Martin, the defending world champion, battled back with a single in the ninth and a steal of one in the 10th, but Murdoch scored a single point in the 11th end for the victory.
The win moved Scotland to 8-3 and guaranteed Murdoch second place, setting up a rematch in the 1-versus-2 Page playoff game tonight at 7:30 p.m. The winner will advance directly into the championship game, scheduled for Sunday at 7:30 p.m.
"It was a big game for us," said Murdoch. "We didn't want to rely on other teams because if things went wrong for us we were looking at the three-four game.
"We were pretty focused on trying to play a good game and these guys haven't had a tough game all week so it's good that we came out and played one of our better games."
The question is whether Scotland can beat Canada twice more.
"We know we're going to have to play extremely well again," Murdoch acknowledged.
"Those guys are a really tough team."
Martin, who had already wrapped up first place going into the playoffs on Wednesday, shrugged off the loss.
"Well at least you won't be asking me questions about being undefeated," chuckled Martin.
"I never like to lose a game, that's for sure. They earned it and played good."
Martin went through the Canadian men's curling championship undefeated with 13 straight wins and had won 10 straight here before the loss. Most people wouldn't bet on him losing two more.
"I don't think I'll have much trouble bouncing back from that one," said Martin. "Our goal was to get first place and to get the hammer. We got that and we come out in the one-two game, with hammer, and do our best."
The rematch is tonight and Joyce White doesn't think that will be the end of it. White, one of 30 exhuberant Scots who made the trip to Moncton to support their favourite son, was waving her national flag proudly with every shot. She admitted Martin has some advantage by playing in front of a large Canadian crowd, but that doesn't mean he is a lock to win the world title.
"It's great to have the fans on your side, but in the end skill will prevail," said the beaming native of Fife, Scotland.
"I think we're going to see these two teams again on the weekend. All of the teams are great, but these two have the most skill. They have been a lot of fun to watch."
Halifax's Denise Mitchell, vigorously waving a large Canadian flag, was confident Martin will win a second straight world championship.
"It's fun to be somewhere with such an international flavour, but Canada will win because the fans are on his side," Mitchell said. "If they get down, the fans will lift their spirits. We are going to be cheering for him all of the way. Canada's going to do it."
Martin is certain his rink from Alberta will rebound tonight, but he's not sure if there is such a thing as a home-ice advantage.
"I'll tell you this, there is a home crowd advantange," Martin said. "They were certainly cheering for us and it was great to hear. It gives our whole team a big boost. We almost came back and won. They crowd stayed with us."
Four teams finished the round robin tied at 7-4.
As a result, Norway's Thomas Ulsrud will meet John Shuster of the United States while Andy Kapp of Germany takes on Ralph Stoeckli of Switzerland in tiebreakers today at 3 p.m. The two winners will play in the 3-versus-4 Page playoff game on Saturday.
Shuster trailed France 6-3 after seven ends, but scored single points in the eighth and ninth ends and completed the stunning comeback with a steal of four in the 10th.
"Oh my God. The guys played a perfect 10th for us," said an emotional Shuster. "I feel we got another (win) that we didn't necessarily deserve."
Stoeckli won his fifth straight game since turning over skipping duties to second Markus Eggler.
"It's only a tiebreaker but we're still alive," said Stoeckli, who continues to throw fourth stones for the team. "We still have to win a game to make the playoffs but it's nice to still be in and to have another chance."
Under the Page Playoff system the top two teams play with the winner going directly to the gold-medal game. The loser then gets a second chance to make the final by taking on the winner of the third and fourth-place teams.
n With files from Dwayne Tingley
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