Martin hardly breaks sweat vs. world’s best

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/04/2009 (6315 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MONCTON, N.B. — Prime Minister Stephen Harper is supposed to be in town Wednesday to make an announcement with New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham at an early afternoon media conference.

A couple of hours later, the PM is scheduled to be in the stands at the Moncton Coliseum at the Ford World Men’s Curling Championship, where, based on the evidence presented to date, he will watch Canada’s Kevin Martin continue to run roughshod through the field.

Two more ticks were added to the Canadian to-do list on Tuesday as Martin, third John Morris, second Marc Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert piled on both Ralph Stoeckli of Switzerland, by an 8-3 margin, and Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud, 9-2.

Funny thing is, after running the table at the Tim Hortons Brier last month in Calgary, holding last-rock advantage through the entire round-robin based on a pre-game draw-to-the-button with his opposite number, Martin faced two first ends without hammer on Tuesday.

No matter; a steal of two against Switzerland was followed by a steal of three against Norway, and more compelling evidence that it will take something awfully special to knock the Canadians off stride.

“The guys are curling well,” said Martin, who isn’t doing so bad himself, considering he was scored at a perfect 100 per cent against Norway (yes, 100). “Marc must have made, oh, I don’t know how many great shots. That’s the way it goes sometimes; Marc is making everything. Just keep it up. We feel good and we’re enjoying ourselves.”

Memo to the Prime Minister’s Office: Make sure the boss is in the arena on time Wednesday for the afternoon game against John Shuster of the United States, because it could be over in a hurry.

No disrespect to the Americans, but Canada has been making short work of everyone here, including a Norwegian team that had been playing terrific, unbeaten through four days before a pair of losses on Tuesday.

“He missed more than I would think,” Martin said of Ulsrud. “But we haven’t had those rocks yet, either (red on Sheet D, for all you stats geeks). Scotland lost to the Czechs with them and Norway didn’t make much against us with them. We get to enjoy them against Scotland on Thursday. Let’s talk again after that game.”

Ulsrud, who lost to the Swiss earlier on Tuesday, refused to blame the rocks, but he said the ice conditions caught him by surprise.

“I think it got a little hotter in here, which made the ice a touch more swingy; at least I thought so because I was wrecking on every guard,” said Ulsrud. “But hey, Kevin and the guys seemed to handle it pretty well.

“Hey, we have to pick up our game. Two losses today — if we keep on playing like this, it’s going to get us nowhere.”

And if Canada keeps playing like it is — Martin’s crew has played just 52 of a possible 70 ends and outscored opponents 56-23 — it’s certainly going to get them into the four-team Page playoffs, and no doubt will entertain Prime Minister Harper on his scheduled visit.

“For sure, it’s exciting,” said Martin. “He came and saw us in Hamilton (during the 2007 Tim Hortons Brier), and geez, he knew a lot about curling and the different players.” Canada plays Finland’s Kalle Kiiskinen Wednesday.

On Thursday, the Canadians wrap up round-robin play against Denmark’s Ulrik Schmidt (4-3) and Scotland’s David Murdoch (4-3) in a rematch of last year’s world championship gold-medal final at Grand Forks, N.D.

— Canwest News Service

Standings

(Following Draw 11)

W L

Canada (Martin) 7 0

Norway (Ulsrud) 5 2

U.S. (Shuster) 4 3

Denmark (Schmidt) 4 3

France (Dufour) 4 3

Germany (Kapp) 4 3

Scotland (Murdoch) 4 3

Switzerland (Stoeckli) 3 4

China (Wang) 2 5

Czech Republic (J.Snitil) 2 5

Japan (Morozumi) 2 5

Finland (Kiiskinen) 1 6

TUESDAY RESULTS

Canada 8 Switzerland 3

Canada 9 Norway 2

TODAY’S GAMES

Finland vs. Canada (8 a.m.)

Canada vs. U.S. (1 p.m.)