It's a story that has played out many times for Canada's men's curling team since its last world title.
A trip to the final, and a loss to Niklas Edin.
Edin won his seventh world title Sunday — a record for a skip — by leading Sweden to a close 6-5 win over Canada's Brad Gushue and his team from St. John's, N.L., in the final of this year's world men's curling championship.
“It feels indescribable, and it feels so good after this week," said Edin, who went 11-1 in the round-robin before winning both his playoff matches. "It felt like we played so well the whole week, obviously it was going to be a tough one (in the final)."
Canada won its last world title in 2017 when Gushue beat Edin 4-2 in the final in Edmonton.
Edin has won five of the last six world championships since then — there was no tournament in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic — with four of those victories coming over Canadian skips. Three have come against Gushue, with the other at the expense of Kevin Koe in 2019.
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Gushue has now settled for silver in four of the six tournaments since his championship, including the last three. In addition to his three losses to Edin, he was defeated 9-3 by Scotland's Bruce Mouat in last year's final in Ottawa.
“For the fourth time, silver sucks," Gushue said. "To be second in the world, we have to be proud of what we did, but it’s just disappointing.
"That’s four (final losses) in a row for me and I’m sure at some point down the road I’ll appreciate it more than I do now, but right now it’s tough to take."
The teams entered the last end tied 5-5, with Edin having the last shot.
He made it count, scoring on a tough draw to give him the record-setting title.
"We fought, made a lot of shots and we forced them to play a very, very difficult shot," Gushue said. "I think that’s a shot you probably miss more than you make, to be honest. Credit to him, he made a great shot and no better way for him to win a world championship, but it kind of sucks for us."
Sweden got out to an early lead with two points in the second end and a steal of one in the third.
Canada fought back, and its two-point ninth end set the stage for the dramatic 10th.
"When we were down 3-0, and you would have told me that we’d give them that shot to win, I think we probably would have taken it, to be quite honest,” Gushue said.
Canada, which also had second E.J. Harnden and lead Geoff Walker on its roster, was looking to sweep the men's and curling titles after Ottawa's Rachel Homan won the women's championship last month in Sydney, N.S.
The last time Canada pulled off that feat was also 2017, when Homan won the women's championship alongside Gushue's title.
In the bronze-medal game for this year's tournament, Italy's Joel Retornaz scored three in the ninth end and stole one in the 10th in a 7-6 comeback win over Scotland.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 7, 2024.
