Johnny, Dangerously Close to Disaster in Early Ends Against Canada

What an Ice Hole! That's the thought that must have been running through the mind of Denmark's Johnny Frederiksen after his first two ends of play at this year's World Men's Curling Championship. Kevin Martin had just taken three in the first end and stolen a singleton in the second to take early control of their Draw 2 matchup last night in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It would prove to be a deficit from which the Danes could not recover as Martin and his Canadian team of Ben Hebert, Marc Kennedy and John Morris cruised to a 9-3 victory.
Outside of lead Ulrik Schmidt, who curled an outstanding 93%, the Hvidovre Curling club team of Bo Jensen, Lars Vilandt and the aforementioned Frederiksen were less than stellar in their execution, curling 53%, 44% and 58% respectively. That works out to a team average of 62% which won't win you too many games at this level of competition. The Canadians, conversely shot 86% for the match, with John Morris leading the way at 88%.
The closest thing to excitement in the game was the conclusion of the fifth end, when Canada, leading 4-2 had to draw against two in the rings and it appeared Martin's last rock attempt might come up short. Hebert and Kennedy were on it for the entire length of the trip, and as it crossed the hog line, Morris was called upon to join the fray. Their efforts paid off in a score of one and a three point lead at the fifth end break. The Danes were forced to one in the sixth, before the Canadians blanked the seventh. Martin drew a piece of the button for three in the eighth and then stole another in the ninth before the gloves came off. All in all, a good start to the week for Canada.
After two draws both France and Germany used victories over China and Switzerland to move to the top of the leaderboard with unblemished 2-0 records. Canada shares second place with Sweden, the United States and the surprising Czech Republic, who bounced David Murdoch's Scottish foursome 7-5 in first round play. There is no truth to the rumour that the Scottish brain trust is considering dumping Murdoch for the remainder of the event.