Kevin Martin and company have clinched top spot in the round robin and have yet to tarnish their perfect record as they rolled over John Shuster’s American rink 7-2 at the Vancouver Olympic Centre Monday morning.
Canada, now at 8-0, didn’t start the game well and gave up a steal of one in the first end and struggled to get much else going early in the match, trading singles with the Americans through the first three ends.
Martin and his team, which includes third John Morris, second Marc Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert scored their first deuce of the game in the fourth end, with Martin executing a perfect hit-and-stick to score two.
The Americans failed to gain any momentum in the latter half of the game, and did not find the board in the last six ends.
Unfortunately for Shuster, Martin and team were equally as powerful without the hammer, stealing singles in ends six and seven and finishing the game with another steal of two in the ninth end.
The only other rink to have secured their place in the semi-final is Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud, who did so by destroying France’s Thomas Dufour 9-2 in eight ends.
Norway, sitting in second place with a 6-2 record, put on an offensive clinic against France, scoring in its first three ends, and stealing an overall four points in three ends.
Germany’s Andy Kapp kept his medal hopes alive after surviving China’s Fengchun Wang 7-6.
China got off to a great start to the game, stealing two in the first and added another single in the second.
Kapp’s deuce in the fifth end sparked the Germans, as they would steal a point in the sixth and score another deuce in the eighth end.
Markus Eggler’s Swiss rink continued their strong play as they defeated Niklas Edin’s Swedish rink 7-3.
Eggler saved the heroics until late in the game, pulling out three points in the ninth end to put the game out of reach.
The win put’s Eggler one win away from clinching a semi-final berth with a 5-3 record.
Great Britain’s David Murdoch currently occupies the fourth semi-final position with a 4-3 record.
Germany’s Kapp and Sweden’s Edin both also have four wins, but have each played an extra game and sport 4-4 records.