OTTAWA — A 9-4 score line flattered Canada in its round-robin win over South Korea on Wednesday morning at the world men's curling championship.
Brad Gushue's St. John's, N.L.-based rink struggled at times but still took advantage of misses from Byeongjin Jeong's side in a game that ended after Canada's four-point eighth end.
"This was a little bit of a step back," said Gushue. "The first morning game of the week. Maybe (we were) a little groggy. We did have some execution errors that we couldn't blame on ice or rocks. It was human error.
"If we can straighten that out, we'll be OK."
Canada rebounded with an improved performance in the evening at TD Place. Gushue never trailed after scoring three points in the second end of a 9-6 win over American John Shuster.
Gushue and lead Geoff Walker had strong percentages in the morning but vice Mark Nichols and second E.J. Harnden were both in the mid-70s. Jeong, meanwhile, struggled with a game-low 64 per cent.
"It was a bit of a learning curve today," said national team coach Jeff Stoughton. "It was almost like Day 1 again."
The rocks were textured before the game. Gushue said the venue was noticeably cooler for the morning draw, adding the ice held up well.
"We didn't execute as well as we had in the last couple of games," he said. "We had some zeros out there and some bigger misses. But we hung in there and kept applying some pressure."
Gushue was light with a draw in the fourth end but still picked up a steal when South Korea's double-takeout attempt jammed. Jeong had a chance for two in the fifth but settled for a single when his draw was short.
"There's no sense sugar-coating it," Gushue said. "It was just bad throws. They are what they are."
Jeong missed the angle on a shot in the sixth end, giving Gushue an open draw for three. South Korea got a deuce back but Jeong's hit and roll was off in the eighth, allowing Canada to draw for four.
Canada's form improved against the 2018 Olympic champion. Gushue tacked on three more deuces and iced the win by holding Shuster to a single in the ninth.
A decent crowd braved an ice storm outside to make it to the 9,500-seat venue.
In the morning draw, Norway's Magnus Ramsfjell edged Sweden's Niklas Edin 8-7 in an extra end. It was the first loss of the round-robin for the defending champion.
Sweden bounced back in the evening with a 10-3 rout of Lukas Klima of the Czech Republic. Scotland's Bruce Mouat beat South Korea 9-3 and Switzerland's Yannick Schwaller topped New Zealand's Anton Hood 7-5.
The top six teams in the 13-team field will qualify for the weekend playoffs. The top two seeds get byes to the semifinals.
Switzerland was alone in first place at 8-1 while Norway and Sweden were next at 7-1. Canada and Scotland shared fourth place at 6-2 while Japan's Riku Yanagisawa and Italy's Joel Retornaz were next at 5-3.
Medal games are scheduled for Sunday.
Gushue has settled for silver at his last two appearances at this event. The 2006 Olympic champion won his lone world title in 2017.
Kerri Einarson skipped the Canadian side to a bronze medal at last month's world women's curling championship in Sandviken, Sweden.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 5, 2023.
Follow @GregoryStrongCP on Twitter.
Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press
