CALGARY, Alta. — Team Canada may have defeated P.E.I. 8-4 at the Tim Hortons Brier on Wednesday, but the game was much closer than the final score indicates.
Tyler Smith, 22, moved up to skip P.E.I. from the third position for the game as skip Eddie MacKenzie was on the bench as the team’s alternate and alternate Aaron Bartling moved into the lineup at third. P.E.I.’s front end of lead Ryan Lowery and second Sean Ledgerwood remained unchanged.
Team Canada, skipped by Brad Gushue, improved to 4-2 (won-lost) at the Canadian men’s curling championship. P.E.I. dropped to 1-5.
Team Canada never trailed in the game that was tied 4-4 after seven ends. The teams exchanged steals of single points in the first two ends. They each scored singles with the hammer in the fourth and fifth ends to go into the break tied 2-2.
Gushue took a 4-2 lead after the sixth end, but P.E.I. answered with a deuce of its own on a nice Smith double in the seventh. Gushue then had to draw to the button for a single in the eighth end. He would steal one point in the ninth and two more in the 10th end.
Brett Gallant of Charlottetown plays second for Team Canada and curled 91 per cent.
P.E.I. plays Saskatchewan (4-2) on Wednesday at 9:30 p.m., and closes out the round robin against Ontario on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.
Team Canada’s final two round-robin games are against Newfoundland and Labrador (2-5) on Wednesday at 9:30 p.m., and Nunavut (0-6) on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.
