2009 Ford Worlds, Draw #1 #2(Canada's first appearance, but the second draw of the tournament)

Holy Macaroni! That's quite a mess they have there in Moncton with the ice! Temperatures very high inside the building (what, no air conditioning to cool it down???) that required the ice maker to scrape, pebble, repeat and repeat.

When was the last time you saw so many shots from champions fall so far short of the rings?

After three ends, the curling percentages are (not surprisingly) low. The teams took turns forcing each other to take only one, but Japan is outcurling Canada 76% to only 67%.

Hey, RAY!!! Canada's opponent in this draw is Japan, not China. Time for him to retire?

Amazing. Two big misses from Japan's skip. First he missed the opportunity to score two in the fourth end; and then most seriously, he wrecked with his last rock in the fifth, allowing Canada to score 3.

Halfway through, and Canada leads 5 - 2.

In the sixth, Japan missed a roll-out and took one. But then Canada took one in the 7th. With three ends to go, Canada leads Japan 6 - 3, and Japan has the hammer.

More ones: Japan took one in the 8th and Canada took one in the 9th. So Canada leads 7-4 without the hammer coming home. And Canada runs Japan out of rocks to win 7-4. It wasn't just the big miss that allowed Canada to score three; it was several others, as well, that made match so much easier for Canada.