Playing in front of perhaps the liveliest crowd ever assembled for a curling game, Kevin Martin made the draw for a 7-6 extra-end win over Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud to open the Olympic men’s tournament.
True enough, but there were some dicey moments en route to the victory. The Canadians raced to a 5-1 lead through four ends — scoring three in the second and two more in the fourth — but when Martin missed a short runback in the fifth, Ulsrud made him pay with a tap to score three, and it was game on for the final five ends.
Canada tops Norway in curling at Winter Olympics
“What a heck of a game,” marvelled Martin, a 93-per-cent performer. “We had the lead, but you’re not going to be able to keep a guy at bay for the whole game. So they came back — what a game. Man, it feels good to get in and get curling. And an electric atmosphere. Amazing. It was so loud, that was pretty cool.
“The fans, can you believe that at a curling game? It was fantastic. To have that many people passionate about curling — it’s fantastic for our sport.”