REGINA — It’s been Jeff Stoughton’s trademark at the Ford World Curling Championship to get an early lead and relentlessly defend it.
The stellar execution of that strategy resulted in Canada’s first-place finish Thursday among the 12 countries in the preliminary round.
Stoughton, third Jon Mead, second Reid Carruthers and lead Steve Gould intend to keep pressuring the opposition right from the first rocks thrown as they head into the playoffs.
Canada should be able to do that today against Scotland’s Tom Brewster (TSN, 7:30 p.m.) because the host team’s reward for finishing first is starting the game with last-rock advantage.
“Hopefully we can score some points right off the hop because that seems to be working really well for us,” Stoughton said Thursday. “We’re not going to change it for tomorrow’s game.”
Canada did drop his final draw of the preliminary on Thursday night to spoil their perfect record. They lost 7-6 to Norway but still finished on top of the standings at 10-1.
Heading into their final draw Thursday night versus Norway, Canada had outscored their opposition 46-24 over the first five ends and trailed at the halfway point in only two games.
The front end of Carruthers and Gould can share in the credit for that. When Stoughton has called for a draw around a guard or a hit and roll behind cover, they’ve buried their stones where the opposition can’t get to them, which in turn lets Mead and Stoughton set up multiple-point ends.
“We’ve got to keep Steve and Reid playing real well,” Mead said. “If those guys continue to outcurl their opposition the way they have been and Jeff and I get to play aggressive shots, that’s what we need to do.”
The winner of the Friday’s game between the top two seeds advances directly to Sunday’s championship game. The loser can still get there via a win in Saturday’s semifinal, in which they meet the winner of an earlier playoff between the third and fourth seeds.
Canada downed China 5-4 and was 10-0 with one game remaining Thursday. The Scots finished up at 9-2 and Sweden’s Niklas Edin was also done at 7-4. Thomas Dufour of France and Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud were 6-4 each with a game remaining.
In the afternoon draw the Czech Republic edged Germany 9-8, Sweden beat Switzerland 7-4, Norway defeated China 3-1 and Scotland got by the United States 7-6.
Canada’s 7-3 win over the Scots in the preliminary round Tuesday was an example of their strike-first mentality as Stoughton executed a raise double to score two in the first end. The Canadian skip pounced on a mistake by Brewster to bury his last draw behind cover.
Canada ended up stealing a point for a quick 3-0 lead.
“We’ve been really aggressive at the start, scoring points early and carrying it through eight, nine and 10, whatever it takes,” Stoughton said. “They’re going to have a better game against us than they did in the round robin and we can play better.”
Brewster, a 36-year-old manager of Curl Aberdeen, finally won Scottish nationals this year after almost two decades of trying. He’s brought a young team with him to Regina. Third Greg Drummond and lead Michael Goodfellow are 22 and second Scott Andrew is 21.
“These guys work hard, harder than any team I’ve ever had and they deserve what they’re getting at the moment,” Brewster said.
The three 20-somethings had never curled in an arena before the world championship, nor in front of the 5,600 who watched Tuesday’s draw. Brewster says “a wee bit of naivete” possibly helped them avoid getting caught up in the magnitude of the event.
Stoughton wonders if that can continue Friday, when it will be another loud, full house for an important game.
“Hopefully they’re going to be nervous as hell and play terribly,” he said with a smile. “They seem to be holding their own, obviously.
“It’s going to be the only sheet (playing) out there, with 6,500 or whatever fits in this place cheering for Canada, plus their 50 Scottish supporters, who are pretty loud, so I think it’s going to be great.”
Brewster is prepared for Canada to come out of the gates hard today and generate momentum with the crowd behind them.
“You know they’re going to go aggressive in the first four or five ends so it’s about keeping the score as tight as possible until the fifth end, then see where you’re at,” he said.
The skips were otherwise tight-lipped in the face of questions from the media on their game-plan.
“They read papers,” Stoughton said of the Scots. “I’m not telling you anything.”
Added Brewster: “If I told you, he would know.”
Canada has the edge in big-game experience at the world championship. Stoughton and Gould won a world championship in 1996 and Stoughton and Mead were runner-up to Scotland’s Hammy McMillan in 1999.
McMillan actually played third a few years ago for Brewster, whose previous experience at the world championship was as an alternate on the Scottish team that won bronze in 2002.
The 26-year-old Carruthers, is making his world championship debut in a situation not unlike Drummond, Andrews and Goodfellow. If the young Scots are curling in an bubble, Carruthers is also trying to stay oblivious to the expectations and pressure of the event.
“Not a clue and I kind of want to keep it that way until the end of Sunday,” Carruthers said. “The more I think about it, the worse off I’ll be because I’ll start overthinking things. I’m trying to keep it cool and relaxed doing my regular routines during the day and not change anything.”