Kevin Martin Opens Worlds With Win Over Japan

05/04/2009 05:32

After a delayed start resulting from problems with the ice surface, Kevin Martin lead the Canadian rink to a 7-4 win over Japan in the final draw of Saturday at the men's World Curling Championships in Moncton, N.B.

The Canadian and Japanese rinks traded points over the first four ends, and then the Martin rink scored a three point fifth end. Despite attempts by Japan to score additional points to catch up, the score at the end of the ninth end was 7-4 and Japan conceded the match.

In the Scandinavian match up of Norway versus Finland, Norway took an early lead and dominated the match, scoring a four point sixth end. The Finnish rink conceded the match at the end of the sixth for a final score of 9-1.

The Czech Republic scored over three consecutive ends against Denmark, and scored a four point end in the sixth. Despite a two point end for Denmark in the eighth end, the Danish rink opted to concede the match at a final score of 8-4.

Only the China versus France match would go to the full ten ends. After blanks on the first three ends, each rink began to notch up points, with both rinks scoring three point ends in the final hour of the game. France would ultimately win with a final score of 7-5.

Humidity during the first draw on Saturday resulted in poor ice conditions heading into the second draw. The second draw was delayed half an hour while the ice crews fought to resolve the problem.

Canada plays in two draws tomorrow, first against France at 12:00pm and then against China at 6:30pm.

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SWIVEL HIPS SAYS:

I’m not really sure Japan knew what ‘hit’ them when Canada started peeling rocks later in the game. No doubt, they’ve never seen “boom-booms” like that before.

Kudos to head ice-technician Hans Wuthrich and his crew. The evening draw was delayed ½ hour while he and his crew worked feverishly to resolve ice problems caused by very high humidity and temperatures in Moncton. I understand they just about lost the ice in the Monton Coliseum this afternoon.

Catch all of the action of Canada’s games today vs. France at 10:00 a.m. local time on TSN and 4:30 p.m. local time vs. China on TSN2.