David Hay, Peter Loudon, Euan Byers, Peter Smith, Graeme Connal & David Murdoch
courtesy CCA/michael burns photo

CURLING from Mike Haggerty in Grand Forks, USA:

MEN'S FINAL: Canada 6, Scotland 3.

It was a sombre David Murdoch who stood on the silver podium after the final of the World Men's Curling Championships, following Canada's 6-3 win over Scotland on Sunday.  "I'm a bit disappointed actually, particularly with the way I played" he said during the post-game on-ice scrum.  However, reflecting on his Page Play-off win over the Canadians on Friday, he added, "but we've learned how to beat them now, and that's one of the positives we will take away from these Championships.

Eventually, this was something of a meek final performance by the Scots and was a disappointing end to a brave campaign that saw Murdoch and his team of Euan Byers, Peter Smith and third Graeme Connal recover from three early round-robin defeats to claim second place on the table.  The Scots followed that up by taking the direct route to the final, thanks to a remarkable second-half recovery from being four shots down to beat Canada 7-6 in the Page Play-off game between the top two ranked teams.

Canada then recovered with a 5-4 semi-final win against Norway to face the Scots again, this time for the world title, and, this time, Canadian skip Kevin Martin and his team made no mistake.

In the opening half of the final, both teams made uncharacteristic mistakes, especially the Scots.  After blanking the first end, Murdoch's attempted double take-out in the second was too straight and he gave up a steal of one to let Canada open the scoring.

Murdoch then had a chance to score two in the third but his last shot - an attempted hit and stay - rolled out and he had to make do with just one shot.  Canada blanked the fourth end and then scored two in the fifth when Murdoch's last stone lay exposed and Martin took out two Scottish counters to take a 3-1 half-time lead.  The Scots blanked the sixth when Canada thwarted their attempts to open the game out as they looked for the big score that would bring them back into the game...  In the seventh, Murdoch eventually was forced to attempt a tricky angled come-in off his own wing stone for two, but he just slipped past the Canadian stone on the button by millimetres and gave up another steal of one to go three behind at 1-4.

By this time, the Scots were chasing the game, as they were in their previous encounter, and, in the eighth they fought back with two shots when Murdoch tapped out a Canadian stone with his own last shot, after an attempted double take-out by Martin just failed.

In the ninth, Murdoch made up with a wrecked first shot with a well-placed draw that forced Canada to clear out a cradle of three stones.  Once the dust settled, Canada clearly had first shot from the end, but gained a second after an umpire's measure for a game-winning 6-3 lead.

In the tenth, Canada simply ran the Scots out of stones to claim the Martin team's first world title in three attempts.

Afterwards a wry Murdoch said, "I was a bit disappointed with the way we played there. 
We had a lot of chances, especially early on myself.  It was just a half-inch on a lot of those shots today.  We just didn't quite put the pressure on the way we wanted to".

Eventually the game turned on Murdoch's attempted wing-in in the seventh end and he said, "he forced us into making that shot because he played a great hit and roll. I was disappointed we didn't make it because it was there all the way.  We underswept it by a hair and if we'd made it, we would have been right back in it".

Through his disappointment, Murdoch was gracious enough to add, "those guys have played well all week, so they deserved it".

Page 1 v 2 Play-off: Scotland 7, Canada 6.

David Murdoch has qualified for his third world final, thanks to an outstanding second half comeback by the Scots when they beat Canada's Kevin Martin by 7-6 in the 1 v 2 Page Play-off game to take the direct route to the final.

Canada now face Norway in the semi-final with a second chance to reach the final.  Norway beat China by 7-5 in the third against fourth Page Play-off game earlier.

Throughout the week, Murdoch has been complaining about some slack play that has occasionally crept into the Scottish game, and it was slack play that put them 2-6 down after just four ends in this game, thanks to Canadian threes at both the second and fourth ends.  At that stage, few in the packed arena held out any hope for the Scots.

However, the Scots pegged away.  They steadied the ship by blanking the fifth end and then started the fight-back with two shots in the sixth.  Solid play by the whole Scottish team - Euan Byers, Peter Smith and third Graeme Connal, as well as Murdoch - gave them a steal of one shot in the seventh to close the gap to 5-6.

Canada then blanked the eighth and looked ready to claim victory in the ninth.  However, in that end, Murdoch buried his last stone behind a front guard and Kevin Martin could only nudge it rather than remove it with his last shot.  This gave the Scots another single steal and levelled the game at 6-6.

The odds were still stacked against the Scots as they played the tenth end.  Canada held the crucial last stone advantage and started the end well by clearing out Scottish stones time and again.  With his last shot, Murdoch played a hit and roll which left his own stone lying shot on the four foot ring.  This left Martin with a tempting draw for the one shot he needed for the win.

However, that stone came up wide and fractionally long, rubbed off the Scottish stone in the house, and rolled on just beyond it.  This sealed the Scottish victory, with the Canadians on the ice and in the crowd shell-shocked by such an unexpected outcome.

Afterwards, a delighted Murdoch was full of praise for his team.  "I think that showed the true character of our team" he said, "we don't lie down and kept fighting and fighting, forcing pressure.  And if you force pressure you just never know, sometimes you get what you're after.  They've got some serious firepower.  To come back in a game like that - I'm just delighted with the way the guys reacted and the determination".

Speaking about the build-up to the final shot in the game he said, "fortunately he missed a couple of shots and that gave us momentum.  We had to make sure we got our last one right and force the last shot out of Kevin, there was no point leaving an easy shot for him. That wasn't an easy shot, and he didn't make it".
After the game, Martin still could not believe he hadn't won.  He said, "I thought I'd just lob it in there and it was good.  I've no idea why it didn't curl, it was just a perfect line. That was a weird one, I don't have an explanation for it"."

Canada beat Scotland by 6-5 in the round-robin earlier in the week, and Martin now has the task of beating Norway if they are to set up a best-of-three showdown in the final.

Men's Final Round-Robin Game: Denmark 4, Scotland 7.

David Murdoch achieved the six wins target he had set for himself after Monday's defeat by Canada by beating Denmark 7-4 in his closing round-robin game.

This victory confirms Scotland in clear second place on the World Championship rankings, with eight wins, behind Canada's ten.

These two teams now play each other in the 1 v 2 Page Play-off game on Friday evening, with the winner going straight to the final and the loser having a second chance to progress via a semi-final game that will feature the winner of the 3 v 4 Page Play-off game.  China, on seven wins, have finished third while Norway finally joined them on seven wins to rank fourth, because of their round-robin defeat by China, after a nervy 9-7 extra end win over Australia in their last round-robin game.

Against Denmark, the Scots opened with a score of two, and then stole a single shot in the third for a 3-0 lead.  Denmark got on the scoreboard by scoring two shots in the fourth end and then the teams swapped singles from the fifth through to the eighth ends.

The Scots broke the deadlock again in the ninth by scoring two for a 7-4 lead, and then sealed their win by running Denmark out of stones in the tenth.

Having successfully taken care of round-robin business, Murdoch is now looking ahead to the Page games.  He said, "Getting into the 1-2 play-off was always our aim. We knew Canada would be there too, so let's see what happens.  We've been playing really well and I'm delighted to be facing Canada".

LATEST RESULTS
Round 17: Denmark 4, Scotland 7; Sweden 8, Czech republic 6; Canada 10, USA 4; Australia 7, Norway 9 (extra end).
Final standings: Canada won 10, lost 1; Scotland 8-3; China, Norway 7-4; France 6-5; Australia, USA, Germany  5-6; Denmark, Sweden 4-7; Switzerland 3-8; Czech Republic 2-9.
Page Play-Off line-up:
1 v 2 game: Canada v Scotland (winner to final, loser to semi-final)
3 v 4 game: China v Norway (winner to semi-final, loser to bronze medal game)

Men's Game 10: Scotland 5, Germany 4.

While Scotland's 5-4 win over Germany in their second-last round-robin game guaranteed them a place in the Page Play-offs, results elsewhere meant that they will finish in second place on the table and go straight into the 1-2 Play-off game against Canada.

As David Murdoch admitted afterwards, Scotland had to work hard for what was their fifth successive win.  The teams swapped singles in the first three ends and then, after blanking the fourth, Germany's Andi Kapp took two from the fifth to take a half-time 3-2 lead.

It was then the Scots' turn to blank in the sixth and seventh ends as they looked for a way to build their score, before a complete miss in the eighth by Andy Lang, Germany's third player, allowed the Scots to build that end and eventually score two for a 4-3 lead.

The Scots then emerged from a tense ninth end with a steal of one after Murdoch's raised take-out that put his own stone behind cover left Germany with nowhere to go.  The Scots then ran Germany out of stones in the tenth. 

Elsewhere, China beat Norway by 8-7 after an extra end, to leave the Scots destined for second place, with their last round-robin game against Denmark still to come.

Afterwards, Murdoch conceded , "that was a scrappy affair.  Andi was playing out of his skin up until the eighth end.  We probably weren't converting as many chances as usual.  We were slow to build up the ends for a change, but we hung in there, and sometimes at the Worlds you have to hang in till the very end and keep forcing the pressure".

Speaking about the game-turning ninth end, he said, "we put on a lot of pressure in that ninth end - it wasn't looking very good for us for a while - but Graeme (Connal) played a great shot, and I got a freeze and the angle in".

Murdoch was also asked about his relatively poor start to the week, when he suffered three defeats, and he said, "It's not good to have a bad start. We didn't play badly against the US in the third game, and we lost it.  That's the one that maybe hit the confidence, but we've just had to re-group, and the way we've responded has been a delight.  We've strung together five wins.  We're hitting high numbers every game whereas before it was a roller-coaster, and that's what you want to do".
 
The Scots now play Denmark in their closing round-robin game before concentrating on the challenge of how to beat event favourites Canada at least once.

LATEST RESULTS:
Round 15: China 5, Australia 3; Switzerland 6, Canada 8; France 5, Sweden 7; Germany 10, Denmark 7.
Round 16: USA 7, Switzerland 8; Norway 7, China 8 (extra end); Scotland 5, Germany 3; Czech Republic 3, France 10.
Standings after 16 rounds: Canada won 9, lost 1; Scotland 7-3; China 7-4; Norway 6-4; France 6-5; Australia, USA 5-5; Germany 5-6; Denmark 4-6; Sweden 3-7; Switzerland 3-8; Czech Republic 2-8.

Men's Game 9: Scotland 6, Switzerland 4.

Scotland's men continued their charge to the weekend medal stages with yet another workmanlike performance at the World Championships on Wednesday evening, beating Switzerland by 6-4 to record their fourth consecutive win - six in total, from nine starts.

Once again, David Murdoch's team showed they were in top form and looked to be in charge from the start.  They stole a single in the first end and, after the Swiss scored one in the second, the Scots moved clear in the third with a score of three.

However, Switzerland fought back over the next two ends, following up a score of two in the fourth with a single steal in the fifth to go into the halftime break level at 4-4.

The Scots restored their lead in the sixth by scoring two shots, thanks to an easy hit and stay for Murdoch with his last stone.

After this, seeking a way to get back into the game, the Swiss blanked three ends.  They were unable to get any action going and eventually the Scots ran them out of stones in the tenth end without any further scoring taking place after the sixth end.

This result means that Scotland are tied with Norway in clear second place behind Canada, who are already assured of a slot in the 1-2 Page Play-off game.  Both Norway and Scotland remain one win away from being guaramnteed to qualify, but the good news is that Scotland have beaten all the teams ranked around about them on the table, and now look likely to fulfil Murdoch's wish of joining Canada in the 1-2 play-off if they can beat either Germany or Denmark, neither of whom can progress further this week.

When he came off the ice, once again Murdoch was smiling, "we're delighted.  Another great day, with two wins".

And in response to the thought that his team had been playing within themselves, he said, "we know how much to push it at times and we know when not to push it.  And the guys have got the ability that if they really need to go, we can go - if we don't, we don't"

Thinking back to his team's three losses, he added, "what happened at the start of the week probably gave us a bit of a jump.  We knew we had to tighten up and we've completely cut out the slack shots in the last two games.  That's what we want to see".

Some observers are now tipping the Scots to go all the way, but Murdoch has clear thoughts about that, "we're not the boys to beat, the Canadian guys are the team to beat.  They're the number one team in the world and they're here to try to prove that.  But we're here to try to stop them.  I'd like to think we're the best of the rest.   Not everyone will agree with me but I think we're playing extremely well and a lot of teams are not looking forward to playing us".

The Scots now conclude their round-robin programme with a Thursday afternoon game against Germany, followed by an evening game against Denmark.

LATEST RESULTS.
Round 14: Norway 6, Denmark 4; USA 8, Germany 5; Czech Republic 3, China 7; Scotland 6, Switzerland 4.
Standings after 14 rounds: Canada won 8,lost 0; Norway, Scotland 6-3; Australia, China, France, USA 5-4; Denmark, Germany 4-5; Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland 2-7.

Men's Game 8: Australia 4, Scotland 6.

David Murdoch's men took another big step forwards on Wednesday afternoon when they beat Australia by 6-4 in their eighth round-robin game, their fifth victory of the week.

This win puts the Scots into joint second place alongside France and Norway, and behind leaders Canada, who have already qualified for the knock-out stages.  Given earlier results among the teams still in contention, there is still every chance that Murdoch's men can join Canada's Kevin Martin in the 1-2 Page Play-off on Friday.

The Scots opened with a single in the first end and, after blanking the second, Australia levelled in the third with just one shot when their final draw for two came up short.

The Scots eased ahead in the fourth when two good shots by third player Graeme Connal left Murdoch with a straightforward hit and stay for two shots.  Australia had a two of their own in the fifth end and then Murdoch took control, blanking the sixth and seventh ends to keep the initiative in the game.  Murdoch then tapped-up for another two in the eighth to ease into a 5-2 lead

Australia could only manage a single in the ninth and this meant that Scotland went into the last end with a 5-4 lead as well as last stone advantage.  Eventually, Murdoch had a draw into the four-foot ring for the single shot that gave the Scots their 6-4 win.  However, this was exactly the same scenario that the Scots encountered in their game against USA, which they lost when Murdoch's well-played last draw shot picked up.

As he acknowledged afterwards, Murdoch was particularly careful with his preparations for this shot.  "I was going to make sure that was clean.  We had fifteen minutes on the clock there, so I made sure there wasn't a single piece of debris on the ice" he explained, "then I was just concentrating throughout it.  I didn't think about that US shot.  I knew I'd got this one right".
.
Speaking more generally, Murdoch said, "I know that was nothing spectacular, but we just kept it tight.  We knew these guys would probably run tight with us, and we dominated them really.  We just stayed on top and they never really threatened us"

At the end of the round-robin programme results between teams that finish level are taken into account in the ranking.  Aware of this, Murdoch said, "that was a very important game for us with regard to ranking at the end of the week"

He added, "we've been looking for six round-robin wins in a row to qualify (after the loss to Canada) and we're still on that quest.  We're all throwing well and we're shooting good numbers.  Everybody's happy in the team and we know what we've to do".

The Scots now face Switzerland on Wednesday evening before closing their round-robin campaign on Thursday afternoon and evening against Germany and Denmark - all teams that are currently below the Scots on the ranking table.
LATEST RESULTS.
Round 11: Switzerland 4, Denmark 7; Germany 4, Canada 9; China 8, Sweden 2; France 6, Australia 4.
Round 12: Germany 5, Sweden 6; France 7, Denmark 4; Switzerland 6, Australia 7; China 6, Canada 5 (extra end)
Round 13: Canada 6, Czech Republic 1; Australia 4, Scotland 6; Denmark 3, Norway 7; Sweden 6, USA 8.
Standings after 13 rounds: Canada won 8, lost 1; France, Norway, Scotland 5-3; Australia 5-4; China, Germany, USA 4-4; Denmark 4-5; Czech Republic, Switzerland 2-6; Sweden 2-7.

Men's  Game 7: Scotland 6, China 2.

Scottish Championship medal hopes are right back on track following two strong wins on Tuesday by David Murdoch's men.

They followed their 11-7 thumping of Sweden with an even more convincing afternoon 6-2 win over China.  This result has helped Scotland creep closer to the round-robin leaders - unbeaten Canada, who have six wins.  Australia, Germany, Norway and Scotland all now have four wins, but of these Scotland and Norway have played an extra game.

Against China, the Scots started with a single in the first end and a steal of one in the second.  China opened their account with one shot from the third, but Scotland then blanked the fourth before scoring a further two in the fifth to go into the break 4-1 up.

The Chinese blanked the sixth and took a single in the seventh when Chinese skip Fengchun Wang kept his nerve with his final draw against three Scottish counters.

The Scots built up the eighth end and when the Chinese could not penetrate a great wall of Scottish stones around the four foot ring, Scotland scored two shots and the Chinese conceded.

After this game, a tired but satisfied Murdoch said, "that's the first game where we've fired on all cylinders, and finished it off.  That was us more in the groove today and it was a very good day at the office.  Our confidence is high and we're playing well. 
It's been tough with four games back to back, so I'm looking forward to a good night's sleep for a change". 

He added, "Two wins in one day?  We need to do that for the rest of the week. That would give us a great chance of finishing in the one/two Page Play-off, so we need to just keep playing the way we are".

The Scots now sit out the next two sessions before coming back on to face Australia in the Wednesday afternoon session.

LATEST RESULTS.
Round 10: Scotland 6, China 2; Czech Republic 7, Switzerland 8; USA 5, France 6; Norway 7, Germany 6.
Standings after 10 rounds: Canada won 6, lost 0; Germany, Australia 4-2; Norway, Scotland 4-3; Denmark, France  3-3; USA 3-4; China, Switzerland 2-4; Czech Republic 2-5; Sweden 1-5.


Men's Game 6: Sweden 7. Scotland 11.

Scotland got back into winning ways on Tuesday morning, beating Sweden by 11-7 in a game that they eventually won comfortably despite giving up threes in two different ends.

David Murdoch and his men got off to a flying start, taking two with the hammer in the first end and stealing a further two in the second when Sweden's Anders Kraupp could only remove two of four Scottish counters with his final stone.

The Swedes then blanked the third and dragged themselves back into the game in the fourth after Murdoch's ambitious raised double take-out went completely wrong, leaving Sweden with an easy draw for three.

The Scots took a single in the fifth for a 5-3 lead, but then, in a repeat of the fourth end muck-up, Murdoch had another raised double take-out attempt which went wrong, with exactly the same consequence - a Swedish draw for three shots.  This time, Sweden moved into a 6-5 lead.

The Scots regained the lead in the seventh, when Murdoch drew for two, and, crucially, played a disciplined eighth end to hold the Swedes to just one shot.  With the score tied at 7-7, Scotland played a strong ninth end, eventually leaving Murdoch to draw for four shots, and finish the game.

This result ties the Scots in fourth place alongside Norway, who lost to unbeaten Canada in an extra end; USA, who were beaten by Australia, who now lie in third place; and Denmark, who defeated the Czech Republic by 8-7.

After the game, Murdoch was perplexed by the lapses of form that saw them give up two threes.  "We played some really, really good curling and then played some horrible curling, which is not like us, so we just need to tighten it up" he said. "We just had a couple of 50% ends, which was just really poor.   Apart from that, we're playing some great curling in between times, so we just need to cut out the nonsense.  I don't think we want to beat ourselves up about that, it was just a freak couple of threes there, otherwise we absolutely totally dominated".

This win keeps the Scots in contention, but Murdoch's focus remains on how his own team is doing, rather than the others.  He explained, "We're going to worry about that (our position on the table) later.  Right now we're just concentrating on trying to get six wins in a row, and that's one of them, so just the other five to go".

The next of those five wins needs to come against China, whom the Scots play on Tuesday afternoon.

LATEST RESULTS:
Round 9: Australia 6, USA 4; Canada 9, Norway 8 (extra end); Sweden 7, Scotland 11; Denmark 8, Czech Republic 7.
Standings after 9 rounds: Canada won 6, lost 0; Germany 4-1; Australia 4-2; Norway, USA, Denmark, Scotland 3-3; China, France 2-3; Czech Republic 2-4; Switzerland 1-4; Sweden 1-5.

Men's game 5: Canada 6, Scotland 5.

While they gave Canada their closest game of the Championships so far, and were never headed for the first six ends, the stark fact is that Scotland suffered their third loss of the Championships so far as they went down by 5-6 to Canada on Monday evening.

As he readily acknowledged, this result now means that David Murdoch and his team now have a real mountain to climb if they are to be in the medal hunt at the weekend.

The Scots opened well, with a steal of one from the first end.  After this, Canada blanked the second and good Scottish play restricted Canada's Kevin Martin to just one shot in the third, when he cleared out three Scottish counters with his last shot.

The Scots then took a well-worked two in the fourth, but Canada produced a two of their own in the fifth to level again at 3-3.

The Scots blanked the sixth and were in good shape in the seventh until a well-placed Martin stone proved too much of a temptation for Murdoch, who went for a big score but failed, handing Canada a game-turning steal of one for a 4-3 lead.  In the eighth, Martin produced another wonderful draw before Murdoch's attempted double take-out only nudged the second Canadian counter instead of removing it, giving Canada another single steal.

A bold double take-out by Murdoch gave the Scots a two in the ninth to level the game again at 5-5, but the Scottish challenge eventually fizzled out in the tenth, leaving a Canadian counter in the house to maintain Canada's unbeaten record.

After the game, Murdoch was philosophical, It's annoying because we had them on the ropes there, and it's not often you have a team like that on the ropes".

"We had a huge chance in seven and they played such a great shot, it was just perfectly placed and such a teaser.  I probably over-cooked mine a little and was trying to go for the three.  I possibly should have settled for the two, but that's put us on three losses, and that's making our route to the final a lot more difficult".

However Murdoch had positives to reflect on - "we're really pleased with that performance.  I think we showed that we can play to a high standard, but we just didn't turn our engines on for a couple of ends in that game.  We knew we could try against these guys - we're good curlers, they're good curlers, so it was always going to be a 50/50 game".

And it wasn't just Murdoch who felt that it had been a close-run thing.  Canadian skip Kevin Martin agreed, "They had us in huge trouble for the first four and we finally got the break in five and got the deuce.  Then we kinda switched in" he said afterwards.

"For the first four ends of the game they were all over us, but gradually the game turned for us.  That's what happens in curling, it's a momentum game.  David's a good player and that was a heck of a curling game we just had with him".

The Scots, who now lie in joint sixth position, face Sweden on Tuesday morning and then China in an afternoon game.  Like the other four games left in their round-robin programme, these have now become must-wins if Scottish hopes of finally taking Canadian scalps over the medal weekend are to remain alive.

LATEST RESULTS:
Round 7: France 2, Canada 8; Germany 3, Australia 5; China 8, Denmark 5; Switzerland 5, Sweden 4.
Round 8:
Sweden 5, Norway 7 (extra end); Denmark 7, USA 6; Australia 8, Czech Republic 5; Canada 6, Scotland 5.
Standings after 8 rounds: Canada won 5, lost 0; Germany 4-1; Australia , Norway, USA 3-2; China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Scotland 2-3; Sweden, Switzerland 1-4.


Men's Game 4: Scotland 5, France 4.

Although the final score-line looked tight at 5-4, Scotland enjoyed control of their encounter with France, once they got going in the third end, to produce their second win of the Championships.

France started with the hammer and scored two shots in the first end after a measure. They then went on to steal a single in the second when David Murdoch missed his final draw.

After this, the tide turned in Scotland's favour. They scored two in the third and stole a single in the fourth when French skip Thomas Dufour wrecked on guards with his final draw attempt.  This levelled the score at 3-3. 

Looking for a big score, the French then blanked ends five and six, but the Scots made that tactic backfire when two well-placed Murdoch draws in the seventh put the pressure on.  Dufour's final hit and stay was not accurate enough, and Scotland stole one to take the lead for the first time in the game, at 4-3.

The Scots then held France to just one shot in the eighth, blanked the ninth and, thanks to good stone placement and clear-up work by the whole team, protected their own early stone on the button well enough to give Murdoch the luxury of not having to play his last stone, take a single from the end and victory in the game.

After the game, it was clear that the Sunday evening loss against USA had still been playing on Murdoch's mind.  He said, "last night was just a bit unfortunate.  It was a cruel game considering how well we played.  We out-curled them.  You're shooting 98% and your last stone picks up and you lose the game". 

He added, "It's hard to bounce back from a game like that (v USA).  We had a similar thing against Norway at the Europeans.  I didn't sleep much that n