CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy – Three matches and three wins into world men’s curling championship, Kevin Koe and his Canadian rink are just now starting to find their comfort zone.
The Edmonton skip extended his perfect start with pair of victories Sunday, retaining a share of first place with Scotland’s Warwick Smith at 3-0.
Koe cruised past Denmark’s John Frederiksen 8-3 in the fourth draw, before surviving a scare from Switzerland’s Stefan Karnusian with three in the eighth end and two more in the ninth for a 9-5 win.
Afterwards, he was breathing a sigh of relief over the close call, and happy with the progress his rink, which is still struggling with jet lag, is making.
“You can’t get any better than (3-0) record-wise, so we’re definitely not complaining,” said Koe. “I thought we played pretty well there and started to feel pretty good out there tonight. The ice is good and it’s to our style, so let’s hope it stays that way.”
Canada led Switzerland 4-2 through six ends before Karnusian capitalized on a pair of Koe errors to post a three-spot in seventh for a 5-4 lead.
Unfazed, Koe replied with a three of his own immediately afterwards – “that eighth end was huge for us,” he said – and then stole two more in the ninth before Karnusian conceded.
“I missed my first one a little bit in the seventh but we just over-swept my second one and we left him a double for three and he made it, all credit to him,” said Koe. “They played really well.
“We’ve never played them before but we were really impressed with them, especially in the first half of the game when they kept it close.”
The victory ensured Koe would keep pace atop the standings with Smith, an 8-6 winner over France’s Thomas Dufour in the fifth draw.
China, Denmark, Germany, Italy and Norway are all 2-1, France and the United States are both 1-2, while Sweden, Switzerland and Japan are 0-3.
Koe began his day by cruising to an 8-3 win over Denmark’s John Frederiksen.
The Canadians stole one in the opening end and then broke things open with a four-spot in the third, when Koe followed up a wreck by Frederiksen with a delicate tap-back.
After Denmark picked up another in the fourth to make it 5-2, Canada added three more in the fifth when Koe made a gentle angled raise tap-back.
Denmark scored once more in the sixth before shaking hands.
Koe said following that victory that his crew was still getting sharp while it adjusted to the time difference.
“I think we’re still struggling with the travel,” he said. “A couple of us that came later are waking up at one or two in the morning and not getting to sleep again, so by the time you hit the actual game, you’re pretty tired. But I’m happy with the way we’re playing and as another day or two goes on we’ll feel back to normal.”
Koe brought on alternate Jamie King after five ends against Denmark to replace second Carter Rycroft, but he only got to play one end and that helped earn him a perfect score in the official stats.
“He hadn’t played during the Brier, and we just brought him on so his wife could take some pictures before she leaves (Monday),” Koe explained with a smile. “Now, he’s Mr. 100 per cent and we won’t hear the end of it.”
In other Draw 4 play, Italy’s Joel Retornaz scored one in the 10th end for a 6-5 win over Germany’s Andreas Kapp; China’s Liu Rui was an 8-6 winner over Japan’s Tsuruga Makoto; and American Pete Fenson beat Switzerland 7-5.
In other Draw 5 action, Denmark beat the U.S. 9-7 and Norway’s Per Carlsen edged Sweden’s Torger Nergard 7-4.
