Canada rallies to beat Sweden

Canada's second game of the World Men's Championship was against Anders Kraupp and his team from Sweden. Sweden always gives a strong performance at international curling events, and Kraupp wasn't about to disappoint. With one win already under their belt, the Swedes were looking to take down the tournament favorite, Kevin Martin.

In the opening few ends, it looked as though Kevin Martin's fourteen game winning streak may come to an end, as Martin was being badly outplayed by his Swedish counterpart. Sweden scored in the first, and stole another in the second. After holding Canada a single in the third, the Swedes blanked the fourth before scoring again in the fifth to take a 3-1 lead into the break. Kevin Martin was being outcurled 70%-94% by Anders Kraupp, the Swedish skip. Despite the uncharacteristically poor performanace by Martin, the game wasn't out of reach.

Heading back from the fifth end break, it was like a brand new Canadian team. It looked as though Sweden had woke up "The Old Bear", who roared back with a score of three points in the sixth end. This was the first multiple point end so far in this game, and moved Canada ahead on the scoreboard for the first time.

With the momentum clearly shifted from Sweden to Canada, Martin rolled on and began to dominate the second half of this game. After forcing Sweden to take a single point and give up the hammer in the seventh, Canada scored a duce in the eighth. Canada scored another two points in the tenth to get the 8-5 win.

Martin substantially improved his game after the fifth end break, moving up by 15% to end off with 85%. But it was Canadian third, John Morris, who stole the show. He put on a clinic, curling an almost perfect 99%. Ben Hebert, the Canadian lead, wasn't far off, posting a 97%.

Canada remains with the Czech Republic and Germany as the only undefeated teams in the tournament. France, who got off to a 2-0 start this week, lost their first of the tournament to Germany's Andy Kapp this afternoon. This loss to Canada is just the first loss for Sweden thus far. They are tied with Australia, Scotland, and the United States, all with 1-1 records.