LETHBRIDGE, Alta. — Canada’s Kevin Koe has been curling his best in high-pressure situations this season. He did it again Saturday and locked up a berth in the semifinal at the world championship as a result.
With just five seconds left on the clock in the 10th end, Koe delivered a perfect tap that froze and left Scotland with little chance of pulling even with a deuce. Mouat could only score one with his final throw, giving Canada a 6-5 win.
“Our skip is starting to fire,” said Canada lead Ben Hebert. “When he starts going like that, he’s ridiculous.”
Canada will play Switzerland’s Peter De Cruz on Saturday night at the Enmax Centre.
Top-seeded Niklas Edin of Sweden will play Japan’s Yuta Matsumura in the afternoon semifinal. Matsumura edged American John Shuster 7-6 in the other qualification game, sealing the win by drawing the button in an extra end.
Koe seems to maintain his composure no matter what the situation. He delivered on a game-winning shot for the national title last month and is making a habit of taking his time even when the clock is winding down.
“I just remind myself to throw it good and the result will take care of itself,” Koe said. “It’s worked this year, that’s for sure.”
The semifinal winners will play for gold on Sunday and the losers will play for bronze.
Canada started the game against Scotland with hammer and used it for a tap that gave Koe a 2-0 lead. Mouat was forced to a single in the second and gave up a deuce in the third end.
Koe jammed on a double takeout in the fourth to set Scotland up for a pair.
The teams blanked two ends before Mouat made an excellent draw that froze on a Canada stone at the four-foot. That forced Koe to draw the button for a single but Canada managed to force Scotland in the eighth.
In the ninth, Koe went for a blank attempt but his stone hung around after a double takeout. That gave Mouat the hammer down by two in the 10th.
Koe led all Canadian players at 94 per cent. Scotland shot 88 per cent overall to 87 per cent for Canada.
“Kevin was just lights out today,” said Canada coach John Dunn. “This is when he comes to play. Nobody beats him today and that’s the difference.”
Koe won world titles in 2010 and 2016 with different teams. His Calgary-based rink of third B.J. Neufeld, second Colton Flasch and Hebert is the top-ranked team in the world.
Canada settled for the third seed after posting a 9-3 record in round-robin play.
Sweden (11-1) and Switzerland (9-3) earned byes to the semifinals. Japan (9-3) took the fourth seed ahead of the United States (8-4) and Scotland (8-4).
Edin defeated Canada’s Brad Gushue in last year’s final in Las Vegas.