Murdoch to final, Martin to semi

Kevin Martin was a heavy favorite to win this year's world championship, despite having never won an international event. After coming so close to another round-robin sweep (only a single loss), Canada headed into the playoffs in the 1 vs. 2 playoff game against David Murdoch of Scotland, another front runner for this year's title. Team Canada defeated Scotland in the round robin, though only by a tight 6-5 margin.

After blanking the opening end, Martin put his team in firm control of the game with a score of three in the second end. Murdoch put his offense to work in the third, and scored two points to make the game close.

In the fourth end, Team Canada again seemed to be flawless, making everything their skip asked for. The result was another three-ender, putting Canada ahead 6-2.

Whether it was Canada getting too comfortable with the lead, or Scotland scrambling to get back in this game, something drastically changed. That three-ender was the final time Canada would put any points on the board in this one. From the sixth end onward, it was all Scotland. Murdoch bit back with a duce in the sixth, pulling his team within two. The in the seventh, they stole a point. Martin got away with a blanked end in eighth, only to give up another steal in the ninth. This tied the game at 6-6.

Heading into the tenth end with the hammer is usually a done deal for Kevin Martin, but that's also what we thought in that game against China. In a frighteningly similar situation to that China game, Kevin Martin again failed to make a pressure draw to get even a single point. The missed shot gave Scotland yet another steal, and the 7-6 victory.

This is Canada's second loss of the tournament, both of which resulted from Canada being unable to score with last rock advantage. David Murdoch and his Scottish representatives now advance to Sunday's gold medal game. But for Kevin Martin, it isn't over yet. They'll take on Norway in the semi-final game on Saturday, for a chance to get a second shot at Scotland. The winner of the semi advances to the gold medal game which, for Martin, is a chance to finally break that Gold Medal Curse.