Italy's Team Retornaz hands Canada's Team Gushue first loss at men's curling worlds

SCHAFFHAUSEN, Switzerland — Canada's Brad Gushue lost his first game at the world men's curling championship on Monday, dropping a 7-6 decision to Italy's Joel Retornaz at IWC Arena.

Retornaz made an open draw to the four-foot ring in an extra end for the victory.

Gushue, from St. John's, N.L., said he was struggling with his rocks in the first half of the game.

"I switched them out and took Geoff (Walker's) and once I got his it was a much different feel," he said. "One of my rocks was curling more than the other. It was fooling me and not allowing me to trust where I was putting the broom."

The top-ranked Retornaz beat South Korea's Jongduk Park 8-5 in the evening session to move into a second-place tie with defending champion Bruce Mouat of Scotland at 4-1. Sweden's Niklas Edin was in top spot at 5-0.

Canada was alone in fourth place at 3-1. Gushue, Walker, third Mark Nichols and second E.J. Harnden were set to return Tuesday morning against New Zealand's Anton Hood.

In other evening results, Wouter Goesgens of the Netherlands edged American John Shuster 7-6, Norway's Magnus Ramsfjell beat Germany's Marc Muskatewitz 8-6 and Czechia's Lukas Klima defeated Japan's Shinya Abe 8-6.

After eight draws, Germany and the United States were tied in fifth place at 3-2. Switzerland's Yannick Schwaller was just outside the six-team playoff cutline at 2-2.

Norway, Czechia and the Netherlands were next at 2-3 and Japan was 1-4. New Zealand (0-4) and South Korea (0-5) remained winless.

Canada shot 90 per cent on the day against the Italians, who finished at 87 per cent.

The Italians were the first on the board after Canada made an error in the second end. Gushue was heavy on a freeze attempt and Retornaz converted with a draw for a pair.

Canada was forced in the third end as Gushue tried to find his draw weight.

"I’m disappointed," he said. "For me personally, I missed a couple of shots early that caused that swing of the two and the one. In the third, we had a mini-opportunity to get the deuce back and it came up light.”

Italy gave up a steal in the sixth end after missing several runbacks. That allowed Canada to cluster three stones in the four-foot ring.

Retornaz opted to hit a double-takeout and concede a single, which tied the game.

Canada had a chance for three - and the win - in the 10th end but Gushue's nose hit rolled too far away and Retornaz followed with a double-takeout. Gushue could only draw for two and the tie.

“We just overswept my first rock," Gushue said. "If we hit that on the nose, we’re going to lie three, they’ll be buried, and he would have had to play a runback double just to cut us down to two.

"It was a little unfortunate and just a bit of a panic sweep and over-sweep and left Joel an easy double. We still got two, which is tough against those guys, but there was a three there.”

Round-robin play continues through Friday night. Medal games are scheduled for Sunday.

Canada last won gold at this event in 2017 when Gushue was victorious in Edmonton.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 1, 2024.