OSTERSUND, Sweden — Canada’s Brendan Bottcher didn’t let an unexpected lineup change get to him at the world junior curling championships Tuesday.
After suffering his first loss of the tournament Monday, the Edmonton skip claimed two wins Tuesday, downing Italy 8-2 in six ends in the early draw before beating Sweden 5-2 in the late match. Bottcher captured the victory over the Swedes despite losing third Evan Asmussen after the sixth end due to illness and replacing him with alternate Parker Konschuh of Sundre.
After the game, Bottcher said Asmussen’s condition wasn’t serious.
“He’s fine,” the skip said. “His stomach was a little bit upset and he had to sit down for a while, but we had Parker to come in and he played great.”
Meanwhike, Canada’s Jocelyn Peterman continues to roll in the women’s draw.
The skip from Red Deer needed just seven ends to get past Switzerland 11-4 in her lone match Tuesday. The win was the Canadian team’s fifth straight after opening the tournament with a loss to the Czech Republic.
“It feels good that we’re in control,” Peterman said. “We’ve moved on from that first loss.”
The Canadians are tied atop the standings at 5-1 with Russia and Scotland. The Russians defeated the United States 6-4 while the Scots defeated Japan 7-5.
Elsewhere, the Czech Republic edged Sweden 9-8 with two in the 10th end and Norway beat Italy 8-4.
Peterman plays twice Wednesday, taking on Russia and Japan.
Canada is tied atop the men’s standings at 5-1 with Norway. The Norwegians beat China 7-5 in the early draw before downing Scotland 6-3 in the later one.
Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States are all tied for third with 4-2 records.
Canada faces the Czech Republic on Wednesday.
“I thought we played really well (Tuesday), probably one of the highest yet so it’s good we can get on to a roll going into the playoffs,” Bottcher said.