It was a Swiss miss during a premiere matchup at the 2007 Ford World Men's Curling Championship.
Switzerland's Ralph Stöckli attempted to throw a curveball against Canada's Glenn Howard by inserting defending European champion skip Andy Schwaller, the Swiss alternate, into his lineup. But Schwaller and Stöckli both fizzled as Switzerland fell 8-2 to the Canadians.
Swiss second Markus Eggler, who won the world championship in 1992, took himself out of the lineup.
"It was my decision," said Eggler. "I had a really nice dream, and also I thought we would do a surprise for the Canadians."
Schwaller, the 2002 Olympic bronze medallist, lost the Swiss final to Stöckli, and was promptly chosen as the Worlds alternate. That was no surprise as Schwaller had picked Stöckli as his alternate at December's Le Gruyère European Championship, an event which saw Stöckli play the entire week at third position en route to winning Switzerland's first European gold since 1986.
Schwaller, throwing second rocks for the first time in his career, struggled with a 71 shooting percentage. Stöckli wasn't much better at 72. By comparison, Canada's Howard fired 81 per cent, his lowest score of the week.
"I played like shite," Stöckli declared, using the Scottish slang term. "I wouldn't beat any team out there, even if they weren't Canada."
Howard, who moved to 4-0, was taken aback by Stöckli's acknowledgement that the Swiss didn't expect to win the game.
"I'm very surprised by that, they're a great team," said the Canadian skip. "It's cool to know we have that kind of respect."
Stöckli, however, concedes Canada's curling power only through the round-robin portion of the event.
"Everybody knows it's a whole different competition when the playoffs start," Stöckli said. "There are a few teams here who can beat Canada in a playoff game."
The back-breaker was a deuce in the fourth end followed by a steal of two in the fifth. By the time Canada scored three in the ninth, the result was automatic.
In other games, Finland's Markku Uusipaavalniemi outgunned Australia's Hugh Millikin 11-9 to climb to 2-2, while Sweden's Peja Lindholm bounced back from Sunday's loss to Canada with a 7-3 pasting of Norway's Thomas Ulsrud.
Also climbing back into contention is the United States and rookie skip Todd Birr. After an 0-2 start, the Americans are 2-2 following a 9-1 crushing of Denmark's Johnny Frederiksen in just six ends.
Later today, Scotland's Warwick Smith knocks heads with Sweden and Norway while Germany's Andy Kapp matches wits with Australia and Finland. Switzerland and Canada both battle Korea.
Photo courtesy by Mike Burns/WCF
