Canada loses to Scotland in World Men’s Curling Championship semifinals

Canada will settle for an appearance in the bronze-medal game at the BKT World Men’s Curling Championship. 

Brad Jacobs and his Calgary-based team dropped a 7-4 semifinal decision to Scotland’s Bruce Mouat on Saturday at the Temple Gardens Centre.

Rather than draw for a single to play an extra end, Canada went for the win by trying an angle-raise triple takeout. The Canadian stones spilled out and Scotland stole two for the victory.

“We were close,” Jacobs said. “We fought and battled all the way to the end.”

Canada will play China’s Xiaoming Xu in the third-place game on Sunday. Scotland will play Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller for gold.

Switzerland defeated China 7-3 in the other semifinal. 

Scotland entered the Canada game with confidence after eliminating defending champion Niklas Edin of Sweden 8-7 in a morning qualification game. Mouat also handed Jacobs his only loss of round-robin play.

A Scotland deuce in the second end was sandwiched between Canada forces. Two blanks followed ahead of an interesting sixth end. 

Mouat had a chance to sit three but his hit-and-stick rolled just out of the rings. Jacobs had his final rock roll out and Mouat’s soft-weight hit for three generated just a pair.   

The host team brought the sellout crowd of about 4,200 to its feet in the seventh end with a highlight-reel double-takeout to tie the game. 

With a Canada stone biting the 12-foot ring, Jacobs made the double with the Scottish stone just missing his rock on the edge. 

The skip emphatically pumped his fist after making the high-pressure shot. A miss likely would have given Scotland control the rest of the way. 

Mouat was forced to one in the eighth, giving Scotland a 5-4 lead but returning the hammer to Canada. A blank set up the dramatics in the 10th end. 

Xu qualified for the semifinal with an 8-7 victory win over Norway’s Magnus Ramsfjell.

Canada hasn’t won world men’s gold since Brad Gushue was victorious in Edmonton in 2017.