Gallant Crushes Defending Champs For Top Spot

14/03/2009 04:13

Americans no match as skyrocketing Canadians lead way to playoffs

He came into the 2009 world junior curling championships with no previous experience, as well as carrying the weight of the Maple Leaf on his back.

But P.E.I.'s Brett Gallant has come through the round robin in style.

The 19-year-old skip of the Team Canada men defeated defending champion Chris Plys of the U.S. 9-3 Thursday to clinch first place with an 8-1 record. For finishing on top of the standings, the Canadian men gain an extra life in the four-team Page playoff system.

They also get a day's rest before facing Denmark in the game featuring the top two men's teams Saturday. The winner of that contest goes directly into Sunday's gold-medal game, while the loser drops into the semifinal.

Denmark, skipped by Rasmus Stjerne, clinched second spot in the men's standings with a come-from-behind 9-6 triumph over Norway on Thursday.

"It feels good," said Gallant after the win over Plys at the Vancouver Olympic/Paralympic Centre. "Now we've got two more to go."

Canada has won nine of the last 11 world junior men's crowns, so the Gallant rink was automatically considered one of the favourites despite their neophyte status -- all four members are competing in their first world juniors. By way of contrast, Stjerne is participating in his sixth world juniors and Plys in his fourth.

"It's true, we haven't been to worlds before," said Gallant, who is in his first year of business studies at the University of PEI. "But we've all picked up a lot of experience at the Canadian juniors (where Gallant has skipped five PEI entries)."

With two shots at making the gold-medal game Gallant's chances look good, yet he's taking nothing for granted.

"We've had a lot of close games in the round robin but managed to win," he cautioned. "Hopefully that will continue."

If there has been a potential weakness in the Canadian junior men's game, it might be their tendency to struggle early in contests.

"It's always a concern," admitted Peter Gallant, Brett's father and team coach. "Like today, the U.S. had us in trouble in the first two ends, but our guys have proven to be very resilient."

Meantime, in women's play, Team Canada went into the final round-robin draw with a playoff berth clinched and with a chance at first. However, Kaitlyn Lawes and her Winnipeg team lost 7-4 to Sweden and fell all the way to third overall. At 6-3, the Team Canada women finished tied with Russia, but get third after beating the Russians in the round robin.

In the women's playoffs Friday, first-place Switzerland takes on second-place Scotland with the winner advancing directly to Sunday's gold-medal game and the loser to the semifinal. Also Friday, Canada will face Russia in the 3 vs. 4 Page playoff game with the winner moving on to the semifinals.

"We were disappointed with the loss today," said Lawes, the bronze medallist last year.

"But at the end of the week we're where we want to be, in the playoffs."

Despite the loss, Lawes is one step ahead of where she was at the end of the round-robin last year in Sweden when she needed to win a tie-breaker against Denmark to get into the four-team playoffs.

SWIVEL HIPS SAYS:

This is a great first-time showing for Brett Gallant. We wish him and the rest of Team Canada the best of luck the rest of the way. Good luck in today’s Page 1 vs. 2 playoff game.