Canada rebounds from 1st loss at men’s curling worlds to beat New Zealand

Canada’s Brad Gushue improved to 4-1 following a 7-4 nine-end victory over New Zealand’s Anton Hood at the world men’s curling championship on Tuesday in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.

The two teams traded singles through the opening four ends before Gushue took control of things in the fifth with a steal of one, followed by a deuce in the sixth end to grab a 5-2 lead.

Gushue and his St. John’s-based team of Mark Nichols, E.J. Harnden and Geoff Walker improved to 4-1 after nine draws at IWC Arena.

“Anton made some really good shots in the second and fourth ends to take away multiple-point ends for us,” Gushue said. “Both were really good shots. I still had a chance in the fourth end and didn’t execute it well, but he made two great shots to keep it close.”

Canada was scheduled to play American John Shuster (3-2) later Tuesday.

In other early games, Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller defeated Japan’s Shinya Abe 10-4 and Czechia’s Lukas Klima beat South Korea’s Jongduk Park 10-6.

Sweden’s Niklas Edin is the lone undefeated team in the 13-team field at 5-0. Canada, Italy’s Joel Retornaz and defending champion Bruce Mouat of Scotland were tied at 4-1.

Gushue won gold in his first world championship appearance in 2017 at Edmonton. It was the last time Canada reached the top of the podium at this competition.

The 2006 Olympic champion has won world silver on three occasions since, including last year in Ottawa. His win Tuesday morning improved his all-time world mark to 50-11.

“When you hear it’s 50, it means you’ve been here a lot and it means you’ve won a lot,” Gushue said. “Fifty is a lot of games, so we’ve done something right. At the end of the day, we want to win on Sunday instead of focusing on 50 today.”

After the early draw, Germany’s Marc Muskatewitz, Switzerland and the U.S. were tied in fifth place at 3-2. The Czech Republic was alone in eighth place at 3-3.

The top six teams in the 13-team field will make the playoffs.

Round-robin play continues through Friday night. Medal games are scheduled for Sunday.

WATCH: Gushue rink loses 1st match at world championship on Monday:

Canada’s Gushue suffers first loss in men’s curling worlds

Team Canada suffers their first loss and goes to 3-1 at the men’s world curling championships losing to Italy 7-6 in an extra end. This is the first time Italy has beaten Canada in the world championships since 1986.