By The Canadian Press with files from WCF Communications

Canada edges England to lock up world mixed doubles curling playoff spot

Apr 26, 2017 | 6:43 PM

LETHBRIDGE –    Canada locked up a playoff berth at the world mixed doubles curling championship on Wednesday with a 7-6 victory over England.

Joanne Courtney and Reid Carruthers stole the winning point when Anna Fowler wrecked on a guard with her final throw.

Canada led 4-1 after three ends but Fowler and her brother Ben pulled even in the fifth before the teams exchanged deuces ahead of the final end.

“We felt like we had a strong start to that game and then just had a couple misses in the second half to get our backs up against the wall again,” said Courtney. “But again, really proud of us staying mentally tough, for giving it everything we had, for trying our best to make our shots when it mattered most in those last two ends.”

Courtney, from Edmonton, shot 69 per cent in the game while Carruthers, from Winnipeg, was at 86 per cent.

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The Canadians, who improved to 5-1, will close out round-robin play Thursday at the ATB Centre against the unbeaten American team of siblings Becca and Matt Hamilton (6-0).

After 21 sessions of round-robin play, six teams have qualified. They are Latvia in Group A, Korea and China in Group C and USA, Canada and Czech Republic in Group D.

The top three teams from each pool are guaranteed a place in the last 16 games that take place on Friday (28 April). After those teams are decided the fourth-place team with the best draw shot challenge will take the final berth in the play-offs.
 
The post-round-robin ranking from one to 16 will also be decided by the draw shot challenge results. The last 16 match-ups will then be determined with the team ranked first playing the team ranked 16, the team ranked second playing the team ranked 15, the third-placed team playing the 14th placed team and so on.
  
Czech Republic beat Kazakhstan in just six ends, by 14-1, while a score of four points in the fifth end helped USA to their 9-5 win over France. USA are still unbeaten so far at this event.
 
Wins for Korea and China on Wednesday (26 April) morning also saw them qualify for the play-offs. Korea who are also undefeated so far in Lethbridge won against Netherlands 14-1. Meanwhile, steals of one point in the second end and two points in the third end helped China to a 9-3 win over Austria.
 
Latvia’s 6-4 win over Estonia on Tuesday (25 April) afternoon qualified them for the play-offs. They along with Scotland in Group B and Switzerland in Group E have all maintained a 100% record so far.
 
In the World Seniors Curling Championships 2017 taking place at the ATB Centre, Canada’s women’s team was the first to qualify for the play-offs from Group A. They last beat Ireland, 11-3 on Tuesday night. USA, Switzerland and Scotland’s women’s teams have also qualified, from Group B. In Wednesday morning’s 13th session of round-robin games, USA won against Australia 11-2 and Scotland beat Finland, 7-6. Switzerland were victorious over Slovakia 10-3 on Tuesday evening.

On the men’s side, Denmark and Sweden have qualified from Group A and hosts Canada have qualified from Group C, so far. Sweden beat Norway 5-3 and Denmark won against Poland 4-3 on Tuesday night. Canada’s last game was against New Zealand on Tuesday evening. The hosts won that game 8-2. Meanwhile, on Tuesday morning’s session, a win for Australia over Kazakhstan, by 6-4, keeps their play-off hopes alive.