Canada’s men’s team advances to 1-2 Page playoff in world junior curling

SOCHI, Russia – Canada advanced to the men’s 1-2 Page playoff game with a 8-3 win over China on Thursday at the world junior curling championships.

Matt Dunstone’s Winnipeg rink finished the round-robin with a 7-2 record, behind Scotland’s Kyle Smith (8-1). Russia finished with the same record as Canada, but settled for third due to a loss against Dunstone in round-robin play.

Canada will face Scotland in Friday’s Page playoff, with the winner going directly to Sunday’s gold-medal final. The loser still gets a chance to advance by defeating the winner of the 3-4 Page playoff in a semifinal.

Russia will face Sweden in the 3-4 playoff.

“The win against Russia was huge,” Dunstone said. “Earlier in the week you might not think that and think it’s just another game but looking at it now, it’s a huge win for us. I think we have a full day to regroup, so I think we’ll go for pizza tonight. Our next game is just another game, so we’ll take it from there.”

While the men are heading on to the playoffs, Corryn Brown and her team from Kamloops, B.C., be cheering from the sidelines after finishing out of playoff contention.

The Canadian women lost 7-6 to Sweden’s Sara McManus on Thursday morning, then followed up with an 8-6 win over Norway’s Kristine Davanger, finishing the round robin with a 3-6 record.

Scotland’s Hannah Fleming (8-1) will meet Japan’s Sayaka Yoshimura (6-3) in the Page 1-2 playoff, while Czech Republic, Russia, Sweden and Denmark – who all finished with 5-4 records – will fight it out in tiebreakers to determine who will play in the Page 3-4 playoff.