Canada’s Koe beats Denmark to advance to final at men’s curling worlds

Canada’s last gold medal at the world men’s curling championship came at St. Jakobshalle four years ago. Kevin Koe will have a chance to end that drought on Sunday at the same venue.

Koe advanced to the final with a 5-3 victory over Denmark’s Rasmus Stjerne in the 1-2 Page Playoff game on Friday. Koe broke a 2-2 tie by hitting a draw to the button to score three points in the decisive seventh end.

“This is a chance to be a world champion again and those opportunities are just so few and far between, especially trying to get out of Canada,” Koe said. “So obviously we want to win for Canada, to get another gold, but it’s a great chance for us to win again for the team to cap off a great year.”

Koe won gold in 2010 with a different team at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. He settled for a fourth-place finish when he returned to the world championship in 2014 in Beijing.

Stjerne, meanwhile, will play in the semifinal against the winner of the 3-4 game between Japan’s Yusuke Morozumi and American John Shuster on Saturday. The semifinal winner will play Koe while the loser will take on the 3-4 loser for the bronze.

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Both medal games will be played Sunday.

“It’s fun curling in these games,” said Koe. “You want to feel some pressure and intensity because that means you’re playing in a big game. Both teams played well, and it came down to one end really.”

The veteran skip and his Calgary-team based team of Marc Kennedy, Brent Laing and Ben Hebert did not give the young Danish side many opportunities. When Stjerne did slip up in the seventh end, Koe made a nice inturn draw to grab a piece of the button for a game-turning three-ender. 

“I didn’t really feel that was ever going our way,” said Stjerne, who won world junior gold in 2009 at Vancouver. “They played really confident and they didn’t leave us anything. It was just one of those games. The first ones to score two (were) going to make the pace and they scored three, which was even worse. We’ve just got to go back to basics now — it’s not over yet.

“We know we can beat whoever comes through the 3-4 game because we’ve beaten them already. We just need to go back, make some shots and get more confidence.”

Canada, meanwhile, will get to rest Saturday while the other three playoff teams will be busy. 

“We’re playing well, and I have no problem with a day off,” said Koe. “We’ll have a good practice tomorrow, hang out with our family and friends and just relax. Just take ‘er easy and be ready for Sunday.”

Laing won gold here in 2012 with Wayne Middaugh, Craig Savill and skip Glenn Howard. They needed an extra end for an 8-7 victory over Scotland’s Tom Brewster.

Laing joined Koe’s team for the 2014-’15 season.

“Would we like to be the team that beats the little skid that Canada’s been on? Sure, absolutely,” said Laing. “But we don’t feel that pressure.”

The Canadian Press

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