Meet the teams competing at the men's worlds in Lethbridge

Kevin Koe will compete in his fourth career world men’s curling championship and for the first time he’ll get to represent Canada on home soil.

In his previous three world appearances, the 44-year-old has sported the Red and White in Italy, China and Switzerland. He competed at the Winter Olympics last year in South Korea.

With this year’s tournament taking place in Lethbridge, Alta., Koe has a chance to win his third world title just two and half hours down the road from his hometown of Calgary. He also won the world championship in 2010 and 2016.

Koe, with the help of third B.J. Neufeld, second Colton Flasch and lead Ben Hebert, captured the fourth Canadian championship of his career earlier this month in Brandon, Man., after making a double takeout with his last stone in the final against Brendan Bottcher. 

Canada will have a tough road to reach the top of the podium with three-time champ Niklas Edin of Sweden, young sharpshooter Bruce Mouat of Scotland and defending Olympic gold medalist John Shuster of the United States all major contenders.

Meet the teams competing in Lethbridge at the ENMAX Centre from March 30 to April 7.

 

Canada

Skip: Kevin Koe
Third: B.J. Neufeld
Second: Colton Flasch
Lead: Ben Hebert
Alternate: Ted Appelman
Coach: John Dunn

World Ranking: 1st

 

South Korea 

Skip: SooHyuk Kim 
Third: JeongJae Lee
Second: ByeongJin Jeong
Lead: Hyeonjun Hwang
Alternate: DongHyeong Lee
Coach: JeHo Lee

World Ranking: 49th

Koe vs. Kim All-Time: 1-0

Game Time vs. Canada: March 30 at 4pm ET on TSN 1/3/4

SooHyuk Kim last appeared in the world men’s curling championship in 2016 where he finished 2-9 as a skip of a different South Korean rink. Koe hammered Kim, 9-2, in the round robin that week en route to his second world title. 

 

Russia

Skip: Sergey Glukhov
Third: Artur Ali
Second: Dmitry Mironov
Lead: Anton Kalalb
Alternate: Evgeny Klimov
Coach: Alexander Kozyrev

World Ranking: 56th

Koe vs. Glukhov All-Time: 0-0

Game Time vs. Canada: March 30 at 9pm ET on TSN3

In six events played this season on the World Curling Tour, Sochi’s Sergey Glukhov made five finals, winning four of them, including a win over Brad Gushue at the China Open in September. The 2013 world junior silver medalist is skipping his own rink this season after going 5-7 as a third for Alexey Timofeev last year in Las Vegas.

 

Italy

Skip: Joel Retornaz
Third: Amos Mosaner
Second: Sebastiano Arman
Lead: Simone Gonin
Alternate: Alberto Pimpini
Coach: Marco Mariani

World Ranking: 46th

Koe vs. Retornaz All-Time: 2-0

Game Time vs. Canada: March 31 at 4pm ET on TSN4

Italy’s most famous curler will appear in his sixth world championship in Lethbridge and will look to improve on his 5-7 performance from last season.  Joel Retornaz, 35, claimed a bronze medal at the 2018 European curling championships.

 

China

Skip: Qiang Zou
Third: Zhiyu Wang
Second: Zhilin Shao
Lead: Jingtao Xu
Alternate: Dexin Ba
Coach: Daniel Rafael

World Ranking: 54th

Koe vs. Zou All-Time: 1-0

Game Time vs. Canada: March 31 at 9pm ET on TSN 1/3

In 10 events this season, Team Qiang Zou has made the playoffs just twice, losing to Yuta Matsumura in the Pacific-Asia Curling Championships final. As a vice for Zou Dejia at the world championships last season, Qiang and China picked up three wins in 12 contests. It will be interesting to see how the 27-year-old performs as a skip this time around.

 

Norway

Skip: Magnus Ramsfjell
Third: Michael Mellemseter
Second: Joergen Myran
Lead: Andreas Haarstad
Alternate: Steffen Walstad
Coach: Stein Mellemseter

World Ranking: 74th

Koe vs. Ramsfjell All-Time: 0-0

Game Time vs. Canada: April 1 at 4pm ET on TSN 1/3/4

After being represented by Steffen Walstad in the past two men’s world championships and Thomas Ulsrud the previous seven years before that, Oslo’s Magnus Ramsfjell will wear Norway’s colours in Lethbridge. Ramsfjell upset the veteran Ulsrud, 7-5, in the Norwegian curling championship final last month and then fell to Scotland in the bronze medal game at the world junior championship a week later.

 

Germany

Skip: Marc Muskatewitz
Third: Daniel Neuner
Second: Dominik Greindl
Lead: Ryan Sherrard
Alternate: Klaudius Harsch
Coach: Andy Kapp

World Ranking: 146th

Koe vs. Muskatewitz: 0-0

Game Time vs. Canada: April 2 at 4pm ET on TSN 1/3/4

Germany’s Marc Muskatewitz and his crew from Baden-Baden have played a very light schedule this season on the World Curling Tour. Team Muskatewitz made it to the bronze medal game of the European curling championships, 8-6, where they lost to Italy’s Joel Retornaz, who will also be competing in Lethbridge. They also went 0-5 at the Aberdeen International Curling Championship.

 

Japan

Skip: Yuta Matsumura
Third: Tetsuro Shimizu
Second: Yasumasa Tanida
Lead: Shinya Abe
Alternate: Kosuke Aita
Coach: Bob Ursel

World Ranking: 21st

Koe vs. Matsumura: 0-0

Game Time vs. Canada: April 3 at 11am ET on the TSN Network

The sixth-highest ranked team at this year’s world championship will be led by Japan’s Yuta Matsumura. The 29-year-old from Sapporo will play in his second career world championship after just missing the playoffs in 2015 with a 5-6 record. Team Matsumura is 30 games over .500 this season with four event wins, including capturing the Pacific-Asia Curling Championship. Japan should be a dark horse at this year’s worlds with a real good shot at finishing in the top six for the playoffs.

 

Sweden

Skip: Niklas Edin
Third: Oskar Eriksson
Second: Rasmus Wranaa
Lead: Christoffer Sundgren
Alternate: Daniel Magnusson
Coach: Fredrik Lindberg

World Ranking: 5th

Koe vs. Edin All-Time: 19-8

Game Time vs. Canada: April 3 at 9pm ET on TSN 1/3

2018 Olympic silver medalist Niklas Edin will look to capture his fourth world championship in Lethbridge, joining the great Ernie Richardson of Saskatchewan as the only skips to win four world titles. The 33-year-old beat Brad Gushue in last year’s final from Las Vegas and also has victories in 2015 against Thomas Ulsrud as well as in 2013 against Brad Jacobs. Koe has topped Edin in each of their last three games, but the Swede got the better of the Canadian at last year’s Olympics and the 2016 worlds. Team Edin is 60-24 on the season and has appeared in six event finals, losing five of them.

 

United States

Skip: John Shuster
Third: Chris Plys
Second: Matt Hamilton
Lead: John Landsteiner
Alternate: Korey Dropkin
Coach: Don Bartlett

World Ranking: 13th

Koe vs. Shuster All-Time: 11-4

Game Time vs. Canada: April 4 at 11am ET on TSN2

Kevin Koe has won 11 of his 15 career matches against John Shuster. But, the American has the wins that count the most in this head-to-head battle. Shuster beat Koe twice at last year’s Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, topping the Calgarian once in the round robin and then again in the semi-final en route to the gold medal and one of the more shocking moments in curling history. It marked the first time Canada did not medal in men’s curling at the Olympics. Team Shuster added third Chris Plys in the off-season and hold a 48-20 record in 2018-19. The highlight of their season came at the Curling World Cup when they beat Niklas Edin on home soil in Ohama.

 

Scotland   

Skip: Bruce Mouat
Third: Grant Hardie
Second: Bobby Lammie
Lead: Hammy McMillan
Alternate: Ross Whyte
Coach: Alan Hannah

World Ranking: 4th

Koe vs. Mouat All-Time: 3-4

Game Time vs. Canada: April 4 at 9pm ET on TSN1

Scotland’s Bruce Mouat, 24, is the only skip to have a career winning record against Kevin Koe at this year’s worlds, winning four of seven matches. His young rink from Stirling fell to Brad Gushue in the semi-final at last year’s event before beating South Korea to claim the bronze medal. In 2018-19, Team Mouat reached four finals, winning three times. The highlight came in November when they defeated Sweden’s Niklas Edin in the gold medal game of the European championship.

 

Switzerland

Skip: Peter De Cruz (throws second rocks)
Vice-skip: Benoit Schwarz (throws fourth rocks)
Third: Sven Michel
Lead: Valentin Tanner
Alternate: Claudio Paetz
Coach: Thomas Lips

World Ranking: 9th

Koe vs. De Cruz: 15-8

Game Time vs. Canada: April 5 at 11am on the TSN Network

Peter De Cruz defeated Kevin Koe in the bronze medal game at the Winter Olympics last year and will look to get the better of the Canadian once again in Lethbridge. De Cruz calls the game, but throws second stones for Team Switzerland. The Swiss women’s team went on an impressive gold medal run at the world women’s championship. The native of Geneve also won bronze medals at the 2014 and 2017 worlds. Third Sven Michel was added to De Cruz’s squad this season.  

 

Netherlands

Skip: Jaap Van Dorp (throws third rocks)
Vice-skip: Wouter Goesgens (throws fourth rocks)
Second: Laurens Hoekman
Lead: Carlo Glasbergen
Alternate: Bart Klomp
Coach: Shari Leibbrandt

World Ranking: 30th

Koe vs. Van Dorp: 0-1

Game Time vs. Canada: April 5 at 9pm ET on TSN 3/4/5

Jaap Van Dorp finished 4-8 at the world men’s championship last year in Las Vegas. In 12 events played on the WCT this season, Team Van Dorp has qualified for the playoffs five times.