Gushue, Canada beat Germany to remain perfect at worlds

LAS VEGAS — Brad Gushue and Canada remained undefeated at the world men's curling championship with an 11-7 win over Germany on Tuesday.

Canada trailed 5-1 after three ends against Germany's Sixten Totzek (3-3), but Gushue's squad came to life and surged back to improve to 6-0.

The Germans conceded after Canada scored three in the ninth end. It was the third three-point end of the match for the Canadians.

The top six teams at the conclusion of the round robin Friday advance to the playoffs. The top two seeds earn byes to Saturday evening's semifinals with seeds three to six playing off that day to join them. The medal games are Sunday.

Gushue, third Mark Nichols, second Brett Gallant and lead Geoff Walker out of St. John's, N.L., are pursuing a second world title after winning their first in Edmonton in 2017.

The foursome was the runner-up in Las Vegas in 2018 when it lost to Sweden's Niklas Edin in the final.

Gushue wasn't able to represent Canada in the 2020 world championship cancelled in Glasgow, Scotland, because of the COVID-19 epidemic.

His team won a fourth Canadian men's title in Lethbridge, Alta., in March.

Gushue, Gallant and Walker played as a three-man team on the final weekend because Nichols had COVID-19.

Canada faces Sweden's Edin in the morning and Finland at night Wednesday at the Orleans Arena.

Germany's Totzek, 22, skipped Germany to a 4-9 record in his world championship debut last year in Calgary.

After stealing a point in the opening end, Canada gave up five to trail 5-1 after three ends.

The Canadians countered with a three-point fourth to get back in the game, then broke it open with three more in the sixth.

Edin, Gushue and Italy's Joel Retornaz are the three teams in the world championship