Sweden was in control of the match, but the final rounds were a rollercoaster ride for the reigning world champions. First, Niklas Edin committed a blunder when his last draw in the ninth round went far too hard, allowing Norway to steal three points and take a 7–5 lead.
Hard pressed in the last regular round, Edin produced a shot that few could see and even fewer were able to execute. The Swede put a sharp spin on his last stone and hit a Norwegian – the only possible way to get it to move away from the center of the nest.
Opponents just shook their heads as the mission was executed with utmost perfection.
– I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone play such a stone, said the Norwegian skipper Magnus Ramsfjell in SVT’s live broadcast.
After measurement it turned out that the art team gave two Swedish points, equalization and tiebreaker. But there Edin was guilty of two closing mistakes and Ramsfjell was able to decide the match with a simple knockout.
– Niklas managed the impossible, but we held it together and managed to win, said a very satisfied Norwegian captain, who with the victory took his team to the top of the table with six victories in seven matches, as many as Sweden and Switzerland.
The top six teams go to the playoffs and the first two advance directly to the semifinals. Sweden meets the Czech Republic on the night of Thursday Swedish time.
