Norway, Sweden don’t look dangerous

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This article was published 04/04/2011 (5533 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

REGINA — The two teams most widely expected to challenge Winnipeg’s Jeff Stoughton for a world title here this week looked nothing like world beaters on opening weekend of the 2011 World Men’s Curling Championship.

Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud — the 2010 Olympic silver medallist and the man Stoughton himself singled out as a co-favourite — needed to steal the last three ends to author a miracle comeback over lowly Korea on Saturday night and then lost 7-5 Sunday morning to another curling lightweight in Czech Republic to fall to 1-1 heading into Sunday night.

And Sweden’s Niklas Edin — the 2009 European champion and fourth-place finisher in Vancouver — lost his first game to Scotland on Saturday and then got all he could handle from France on Sunday before he narrowly prevailed 7-6 to improve to 1-1.

Put it all together and the two teams expected to be challenging Canada at week’s end were looking challenged themselves as the week begins.

Ulsrud called his comeback against Korea on Saturday the greatest of his career, but was bewildered by his team’s poor play and spent late Saturday night getting in some extra practice on the ice at Brandt Centre.

“It is a bit of a surprise that he’s struggling,” said Stoughton, “but they’re a great team. I still expect them to be there on the weekend.”

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SCOTLAND’S Tommy Brewster, who won a world junior title in 1995 but is making his men’s debut at this year’s worlds, has gotten off to a fine start with wins over Sweden and Korea heading into Sunday night.

“2-0 is good. We’ll be happy with that,” said Brewster. “If you’d said that (Saturday) morning, we’d have been delighted.”

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FRANCE’S Thomas Dufour jumped out to a 2-0 start with wins over lowly Korea and Czech Republic, but then proved he could curl with the big boys too when he took Sweden’s Niklas Edin to a last rock before finally losing his first game Sunday afternoon.

Dufour has raised eyebrows at this event previously, going 6-5 at the 2008 worlds. But with a brand new front end this year, he has no expectations of a miracle run this week.

“It’s a little bit under construction this year,” Dufour said of his team. “We hope to be in the middle of the (standings) this year and already that would be something good. If something better happens, we will take it. But we know it takes one or two years to become a good team on the ice.”

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WITH shorter breaks between ends here then he is accustomed to at other curling events, Stoughton — who consumes lots of water during a game — has set up a system so that he can execute a bathroom break between ends without costing his team time off their clock.

Stoughton got a few laughs against Germany Sunday when he executed a perfect double-takeout with his last rock of the eighth end, continued sliding off the ice and, in one fluid movement, hopped into his gripper and then bolted from the ice for a bathroom break even as German skip Andy Kapp was drawing for his one.

“I’ve got my gripper lined up and ready to go to run out the door,” Stoughton laughed. “It is a little bit rushed… You can’t hang around for the other guy to shoot. You just got to go.

“When you gotta go, you gotta go, you know?”

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A FEW provinces over, Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg used two big ends Sunday en route to an 8-2 win over Shannon Kleibrink and triumph in the Victoria Curling Classic. Jones, with the support of Kaitlyn Lawes, Jill Officer and Dawn Askin, jumped on Kleibrink for three in the first end. They added four in the fourth when Kleibrink’s final rock picked up some debris and wrecked on a guard. The Jones team won $8,000 while Kleibrink, last year’s champion, collected $5,000. Glenn Howard won the men’s side.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca