Kevin Koe stays perfect with win over South Korea

By Pete Evans, CBC Sports

Kevin Koe and his curling rink maintained their perfect 4-0 record at the Pyeongchang Olympics on Friday, beating South Korea 7-6.

Koe and his team — Ben Hebert, Brent Laing, Marc Kennedy and alternate Scott Pfeifer — beat a young Korean team that presented a much larger challenge than their 0-3 record coming into the game might suggest.

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The match was tight until the seventh end, when Koe made a masterful shot with the hammer to score a pair.

The South Koreans were lying two at the time, and Koe had to hit a stone at the front of the house in the exact right angle to get his stone to move across the house and nudge the second South Korean rock ever so slightly.

The Canadian skip nailed it, and after a measurement confirmed it, Team Canada scored two to go up 6-3.

WATCH | Koe makes an amazing shot to end the 7th

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After Canada added one in the 8th, the South Koreans took two in the ninth and stole one in the tenth to make it close, but Canada ultimately held on for the win.

The young Korean team gave the powerhouse Canadians all they could handle. But despite the score, the Canadians' experience emerged as the game wore on.

"We're watching a Team Canada train start to roll along," CBC Sports curling analyst Joan McCusker said during the match. "We're seeing Team Canada get their swagger back — a team that doesn't miss much, tries very difficult shots and puts all sorts of pressure on their opposition."

"That team is starting to emerge more and more throughout this game."

WATCH | Team Canada in juggernaut form in men's curling

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Koe's rink are among the favourites in the event, with Koe himself having won two world championships and three Briers before making his Olympic debut at these Games.

And Team Canada has won back-to-back-to-back gold stretching back to the Turin Games in 2006. Marc Kennedy and Hebert were both on the gold-medal winning team in Vancouver in 2010.

The Canadians' next match will come Saturday against Sweden, in what could prove to be a preview of the gold medal match, as the Swedes are also coming in undefeated at 4-0.

WATCH | First place on the line for Canada against Sweden

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