Scottish skip David Murdoch’s hopes of claiming his first World Curling Championship title for four years are over in Victoria – however he is determined not to leave without something to show for his efforts.
Scotland finished top of the standings following the conclusion of the round-robin stage with eight wins and three losses but things haven’t gone their way in the play-offs so far.
First they lost to Sweden in the page one-two play-off 6-5 and now they have fallen 6-3 to Canada in the semi-final to end their hopes of following Scottish women’s skip Eve Muirhead in claiming world gold this year.
Scotland took a 1-0 lead in the first end before Canadian skip Brad Jacobs hit and stayed with his second stone to score two points in the fourth for an advantage that he wouldn’t relinquish.
Murdoch leveled an end later but in the sixth Canada hit for three to make it 5-2 then added another point in the eighth before Scotland replied in the ninth but later conceded.
Canada now go on to face Swedish skip Niklas Edin in the gold medal game while Scotland face Rasmus Stjerne’s Danish rink, who lost 8-6 to Jacobs in the page three-four play-off, in the contest for bronze.
And Murdoch, who last won the world title in 2009 before Warwick Smith claimed bronze in 2010 and Tom Brewster silver in 2011 and 2012, simply isn’t going to allow another defeat.
“Those guys played extremely well I have to say. They had a great game. They’ve got a bit of momentum and they’ve got the crowd behind them – they put on a good show,” said Murdoch.
“We had a couple of chances, but it’s just disappointing because we’ve had a great week. All the guys are playing well and I’ve been throwing the rock as good as I have done for a long time.
“We’ll just have to come out [against Denmark], I don’t want to leave here without a medal this week. I think we’ve been one of the best teams here and we’re going to come out hard.”
© Sportsbeat 2013