Canada skip Gushue beats Italy to clinch first seed at world curling playdowns

SPORTS

Canada skip Gushue beats Italy to clinch first seed at world curling playdowns

Gregory Strong The Canadian Press
Published Thursday, April 6, 2017 2:14PM EDT

Canada skip Brad Gushue makes a shot during the 15th draw against Italy at the Men's World Curling Championships in Edmonton, April 6, 2017. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press)

Text:

EDMONTON - Canada's Brad Gushue locked up the first seed at the Ford World Men's Curling Championship on Thursday with a 9-2 victory over Italy's Joel Retornaz.

Gushue (10-0) scored a pair in the second end and put the game out of reach with five points in the fourth. The teams shook hands after the minimum six ends were played.

The St. John's skip will try to complete a perfect run through the round-robin against Norway's Steffen Walstad in the evening draw.

Gushue, third Mark Nichols, second Brett Gallant and lead Geoff Walker will have hammer in Friday's Page playoff 1-2 game on Friday night at the Northlands Coliseum.

Gushue has been dominant in his first appearance at this competition. His team has outscored opponents 86-31 overall and played full 10-end games on just two occasions.

Sweden's Niklas Edin was in second place at 8-1. He did not play in the morning draw.