North America is guaranteed a place in the final of the 2007 Ford World Men's Curling Championship, while four out of the five surviving European teams will battle in Friday morning tiebreakers.
Canada's Glenn Howard defeated Scotland's Warwick Smith 7-5 to finish in first place at 10-1. Canada will meet Todd Birr of the United States in Friday's 1 versus 2 "page" playoff game with the winner advancing to Sunday's final.
Meanwhile, Germany's Andy Kapp lost 7-5 to Denmark's Johnny Frederiksen and ruined his chance at fourth place and a match with Switzerland's Ralph Stöckli in the 3 versus 4 page playoff game.
The Danish victory allows three teams into tiebreakers along with Germany: Sweden's Peja Lindholm, a three-time world champion; France's Thomas Dufour; and Finland's 2006 Olympic silver medallist Markku Uusipaavalniemi, who defeated Dufour 10-6.
Friday morning sees Sweden and France in one tiebreaker, and Germany versus Finland in the other. The winners tangle in the afternoon and that winner is through to meet the Swiss. That loser is eliminated while the victor will move into Saturday's bronze medal game, the de facto semi-final.
Finland's towering skip, known as M-15 for the jumble of letters in his last name, finished his game early and watched the German drama unfold while clad in blue jeans, and clutching a beverage.
"I was in already in beer mode, and now I must play again," he quipped. "This almost happened in the Salt Lake (2002) Olympics, if Switzerland would lose, we would be in the tiebreakers. But they won.
"This is a new experience for me."
Birr's United States outfit placed second at 8-3 after an 0-2 start, winning eight out of their last nine starts.
"We just played really well and we executed our game plan," said Birr, after beating Sweden 6-5 to close out the round-robin.
So what is the game plan, Todd?
"Keep it simple," Birr replied. "Pick your spots. Keep the eight-foot open. "You don't want to draw against Canada, those guys are awesome."
The Americans were the only team to solve Canada's Howard, beating them 7-6 on Wednesday night.
"You don't suppose they've forgotten about last night, do you?" Birr joked.
Switzerland's Stöckli had lost a critical game, 10-6 to France's Dufour, before rebounding to defeat the Finns 7-4 in his final afternoon match.
"After losing to France it was really important to come back and win that game, and stay in the competition," said Stöckli. "We're half-broken from the back-to-back games."
Kapp was delighted with his earlier 7-5 win over Norway, which first took the Germans to their goal of a 6-5 record.
"We chose (6-5) as a goal to make it easier for us," said Kapp. "We wanted to manage our goals, and making the playoffs would be a bonus."
Kapp merely shrugged when asked if his loss to the Danes has caused him consternation.
Norway's other loss was to Denmark, by a 9-5 scoreline. Norwegian skip Thomas Ulsrud, winner of a bronze medal in 2006, finished a disappointing 4-7.
"It was a bit of everything," said Ulsrud. "Most of all we can blame ourselves. We've been in close games coming home without the hammer, and you can't steal on these teams. But we put ourselves in this position.
"The worst thing is we spent two weeks in Canada before the event, playing in a Grand Slam, and we almost qualified for the money round. We went 3-2 against some good Canadian teams, so we thought we had a great chance to beat some European teams coming here. It's disappointing."
