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Playoff-bound Team Gushue falls to Scotland at men’s curling worlds

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OTTAWA — Minutes after dropping a third game at the world men’s curling championship on Thursday night, Brad Gushue and his Canadian teammates returned to the ice at TD Place.

An impromptu practice session was followed by conversations at the coach’s bench.

A 6-3 loss to Scotland’s Bruce Mouat left Canada playoff-bound at 7-3 with one day of round-robin play to go. But there is much work to be done if the host team is going to contend on the weekend.

“We’re going to talk about it and attempt to make some changes,” Gushue said.

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The St. John’s, N.L., skip has looked strong against the lesser lights in the 13-team field but his defeats have come to teams above him in the standings.

Yannick Schwaller of Switzerland (10-1) was in first place ahead of Sweden’s Niklas Edin (9-1), Scotland and Norway’s Magnus Ramsjfell (both 8-2).

Canada and Sweden will square off Friday night in a rematch of last year’s final. Edin won the 2022 title in Las Vegas.

Gushue, vice Mark Nichols, second E.J. Harnden and lead Geoff Walker looked strong in a comfortable 9-4 win over Germany’s Sixten Totzek 9-4 in the morning draw.

The Canadians weren’t close to duplicating the effort in the evening in front of a well-attended, vocal crowd at the 9,500-seat venue.

“(Tonight) we just had a lot of sloppy throws and never really put any real pressure on Bruce,” Gushue said. “I don’t think there was any end where he was really scared.”

Both Canada and Scotland made mistakes in the early going as they tried to settle in.

Mouat settled for a single in the first end when his open hit rolled out. Gushue made a draw against two in the second end but a hit-and-roll attempt in the third didn’t curl enough, setting up the Scot for a deuce.

“We executed really poorly,” Gushue said. “We threw a lot of bad rocks out there tonight.”

Mouat made another uncharacteristic miss in the sixth end when he nosed a blank attempt. Gushue couldn’t take advantage of hammer and had to make a draw against four for a single.

“When you throw it poorly and you don’t give rocks a chance, you’re going to get burned because the top teams are going to follow it up with a made shot,” Gushue said.

In the ninth end, Mouat made a brilliant rub and roll to sit two at the button. Canada had a chance to push for a tie in the 10th but plans unravelled when Nichols was short on a guard attempt.

Canada will play curling minnow Turkey on Friday morning before the showdown with Edin.

Italy’s Joel Retornaz (6-4) and Japan’s Riku Yanagisawa (5-5) were the only teams with a shot at the sixth and final spot in the playoffs. Medal games are scheduled for Sunday.

Earlier Thursday, Gushue opened with a deuce and held Germany to a pair of forces over the first half, taking a 4-2 lead into the fifth-end break.

He tacked on another pair in the sixth and wrapped up the victory with a double-takeout for a deuce in the ninth end.

“We just played the scoreboard really,” Nichols said. “I thought we made a lot of good shots.”

Gushue has settled for silver at his last two world championship appearances. He won Olympic gold at the Turin Games in 2006 and his lone world title came in 2017 at Edmonton.

Kerri Einarson skipped the Canadian team to a bronze medal at last month’s world women’s curling championship in Sandviken, Sweden.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 6, 2023.

Follow @GregoryStrongCP on Twitter.

 

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Canucks place goalie Thatcher Demko on long-term injured list – CBC.ca

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The Vancouver Canucks have placed all-star goalie Thatcher Demko on the long-term injured reserve list retroactively.

“It’s just cap related,” coach Rick Tocchet said after practice Wednesday. “We get some cap relief, that’s all it is.” 

The 28-year-old netminder has been considered week to week since being sidelined with a lower-body injury midway through Vancouver’s 5-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets on March 9.

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That injury designation hasn’t changed, Tocchet said.

Demko boasts a 34-18-2 record this season, with a .917 save percentage, a 2.47 goals-against average and five shutouts.

Casey DeSmith has taken over the starting job for Vancouver, going 3-2-1 since Demko’s injury. He has a .899 save percentage on the season with a 2.73 goals-against average and one shutout. 

The earliest Demko could be back in the Canucks’ lineup is April 6 against the Kings in Los Angeles.

He’s expected to be a key piece as Vancouver (45-19-8) prepares for its first playoff appearance since the COVID-shortened 2019-20 campaign. 

Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin also announced Wednesday that the club has called up forward Arshdeep Bains from the Abbotsford Canucks of the American Hockey League. 

“I’d like to see where [Bains is] at,” Tocchet said, noting he isn’t sure whether the 23-year-old winger will slot into the lineup when the Canucks host the Dallas Stars on Thursday. 

WATCH | Bains makes NHL debut

Surrey, B.C.’s Arshdeep Bains makes Canucks debut

1 month ago

Duration 2:20

Arshdeep Bains from Surrey, B.C., has made his NHL debut with the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday night against the Colorado Avalanche. As CBC’s Joel Ballard reports, it’s been a hard-fought journey for the hometown kid to the big leagues.

Bains played five games for the NHL team in February before being sent back to Abbotsford. 

“He went down, he’s done a couple of things that we like, and he’s got some speed,” Tocchet said. 

Vancouver may get another forward back in the lineup Thursday. 

Dakota Joshua practised in a full-contact jersey on Wednesday for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury in Vancouver’s 4-2 win over the Blackhawks in Chicago on Feb. 13. 

The physical winger, who’s set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, has a career-high 26 points (13 goals, 13 assists) this season.

Sitting out injured “hasn’t been fun,” Joshua said.

“It feels like forever,” he said. “But at this point, that’s behind me and I’m moving forward.”

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Senators score 5 in 1st, cruise past Sabres – NHL.com

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“I thought that we were ready to go,” Ottawa coach Jacques Martin said. “We got some pucks at the net, we got people at the net. Took advantage of our opportunities and, I think, built a nice lead. And then I thought, in the third period, we continued again. Our goaltending was good. Made some key saves. But I thought we shut them down in the third period good.”

Shane Pinto had a goal and three assists, and Brady Tkachuk, Boris Katchouk, Jakob Chychrun and Drake Batherson each had a goal and an assist for the Senators (31-36-4), who have won three in a row. Korpisalo made 34 saves.

“If you want to win, you need balance,” Pinto said. “And we had that tonight and it’s going to be big for the back-to-back tomorrow (against the Chicago Blackhawks) to have that same thing. So, going to need all the guys on board.”

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JJ Peterka and Connor Clifton scored for the Sabres (34-34-5), who have lost four of six. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed four goals on nine shots before he was replaced by Devon Levi, who made 31 saves in relief.

“We wanted, I guess, to play as individuals,” Clifton said. “I’m disappointed we let ‘Upie’ down, he’s the heart and soul of this team. He’s kept us in so many games, and just to not show up and play that careless style, give them freebies all over the place. … Yeah, obviously, the first 20 really dictated the rest of the game.”

Artem Zub gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead at 2:37 of the first period. He stuffed in a loose puck on the goal line after Katchouk’s shot was redirected by Mark Kastelic between Luukkonen’s pads.

Katchouk made it 2-0 at 4:56, tipping Parker Kelly’s shot from the top of the right face-off circle past Luukkonen.

“It’s keeping the consistency with good effort, right habits,” Katchouk said. “The small things matter so much in this game. And obviously, it worked out tonight with the tip. But kudos to my linemates. ‘Kels’ and ‘Kassy,’ they worked hard to get the puck as well. Those two battle hard every night as well. We feed off each other, and it’s good to play with them.”

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Vasilevskiy stops 23 as surging Lightning beat Bruins – Sportsnet.ca

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