Canada squeaks into men’s world championship semifinal with win over Italy

Canada survived to fight for a medal at the men’s curling world championship.

Matt Dunstone pulled off a close-fought 9-7 win against Italy’s Stefano Spiller in Friday’s playoff qualification game in Ogden, Utah.

The game was tied into the ninth, when Italy had the hammer. But Canada held them to a single point to cap the Italians’ lead at one heading into the final end.

In the 10th end, both teams played defensively as they set up a long string of guards down the centre of the sheet. However, with the all important last shot in the end, Dunstone cleared the obstacles and executed a double takeout to score three and take the game for Canada.

Heading into the qualification matchup, Canada was the third seed and Italy was sixth.

Canada hasn’t won this tournament since 2017 when Brad Gushue captured the world title.

With the win, Canada goes on to face Scotland’s Ross Whyte in the semifinal on Friday night.