Why would you want to blank an end in curling?

There was a moment of confusion in the curling match between Team GB and Canada in the Winter Olympics on Monday, as the Canadians passed up the opportunity to score a point by intentionally missing the ring with the final shot of the end.

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But why would you want to blank an end in curling?

With the score at 1-1 and the ring wide open in the fourth, the Canada team decided to blank the end in order to retain the hammer, which is the term for the team with the last-stone advantage.

Since it was a close game, Canada perhaps wanted to retain their advantage for an end in which they had an opportunity to score multiple points.

This is because the scoring team must give up the hammer for the next end.

As it turned out, that opportunity presented itself in the