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Canada’s Gushue tops Edin in Page 1-2 game

EDMONTON — Canada’s Brad Gushue defeated Sweden’s Niklas Edin 7-4 in the Page playoff 1-2 game on Friday night to advance directly to the final at the Ford World Men’s Curling Championship.
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Canada skip Brad Gushue celebrates his win over Sweden with Canada second Brett Gallant following the page 1-2 at the Men’s World Curling Championships in Edmonton, Friday, April 7, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

EDMONTON — Canada’s Brad Gushue defeated Sweden’s Niklas Edin 7-4 in the Page playoff 1-2 game on Friday night to advance directly to the final at the Ford World Men’s Curling Championship.

Gushue has won all 12 games he has played at the Northlands Coliseum. He will go for gold on Sunday night against the winner of Saturday night’s semifinal.

His St. John’s team of third Mark Nichols, second Brett Gallant and lead Geoff Walker opened the scoring with a single in the first end. Canada stole singles in each of the next two ends when Edin was heavy with his final throws.

Edin, a two-time world champion, showed flashes of his skill but struggled throughout.

He nailed a beautiful double takeout in the fifth for a blank. Edin drew to the button in the sixth and stole a single when Gushue was off on a lightweight tap, cutting Canada’s lead to 3-2.

However, Canada pulled away in the seventh as Edin was short with a freeze and Gushue followed with a takeout for three. Sweden scored a pair in the eighth end before Gushue tacked on a single in the ninth.

The Canadians ran the Swedes out of rocks in the 10th for the victory.

Gushue ran the table in the round robin to lock up the first seed and hammer in the 1-2 game. Edin took the second seed after going 9-2.

Edin falls into the semifinal game against the winner of the Page 3-4 matchup between third-seeded Swiss skip Peter de Cruz (8-3) and American John Shuster (8-3).

The 3-4 loser and semifinal loser will play for bronze on Sunday. The semifinal winner will play Gushue for the gold.

This is Gushue’s first appearance at the world men’s championship. He defeated 2016 world champion Kevin Koe in the final of the Tim Hortons Brier last month.

Gushue has a chance to become the first skip since Winnipeg’s Kerry Burtnyk to run the table at this event. Burtnyk swept the 10-team field en route to the 1995 title in Brandon, Man.

The world championship now features 12 teams and a different playoff system.

Notes: Eight countries have locked up berths in the 10-team field for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Host South Korea will be joined by Canada, Sweden, Great Britain (qualified as Scotland) Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. The other two entries will be finalized at a qualification event in the Czech Republic in December. … The winner of the Dec. 2-10 Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings will represent Canada in Pyeongchang.