OSTERSUND, Sweden — Canadian skip Brendan Bottcher posted two victories Thursday to lock up the top seed after round-robin play at the world junior curling championships.
Meanwhile, Canada’s Jocelyn Peterman dropped a 7-5 decision to Sweden in her final round-robin women’s game to fall into a five-way tie for second at 6-3.
The Red Deer skip will play Russia on Friday morning in one tiebreaker while Sweden will take on Japan in the other. The winners of each tiebreaker meet in a 3-4 Page playoff for a spot in the semifinal.
The Czech Republic also finished at 6-3 but had the best head-to-head record and will play first-place Scotland (7-2) in the 1-2 Page playoff on Friday night. The winner will advance directly to Sunday’s final and the loser will go to Saturday’s semifinal.
Canada trailed Sweden 3-2 at the five-end break, then pulled ahead with a deuce in the sixth. But the Swedes regained the lead with two in the seventh and scored another point in the eighth to keep control of the contest.
“It’s not ideal that we’re in the tie-breakers now, but we still have a shot,” said Peterman.
On the men’s side, Bottcher dumped Finland 9-2 in the morning draw and improved to 8-1 overall with a 10-7 victory over Norway.
“The guys curled great tonight,” Bottcher said. “That game was up and down but we were always ahead on the scoreboard, so we always had control in that regard.
“I feel like we’re starting to get on a roll here and hopefully we can ride that into the playoffs.”
Canada will meet Sweden (7-2) on Saturday in the one-versus-two Page playoff game. Scotland (7-2) will face Norway (6-3) in the three-versus-four game.
“We were just trying to make the playoffs,” Bottcher said. “But it’s great that we’ve finished on top and to go into the one-two game.”
The Edmonton skip can lock up a berth in Sunday’s final with a victory. The loser will meet the winner of the Scotland-Norway game in the semifinal on Saturday night.