Canada routs China for 8th victory in 9 matches at world men’s curling championship [Video]

The host team is standing tall at the BKT World Men’s Curling Championship.

It’s the 12 teams below Canada in the round-robin standings that have been somewhat unpredictable.

Brad Jacobs and his Calgary-based side of Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert improved to 8-1 in round-robin play Thursday with an 8-2 rout of China’s Xiaoming Xu.

“It’d be really nice to sneak into the 1-2 spot and finish this thing strong going into the playoffs,” Jacobs said. “And then just lay it all out there on the weekend. That would be fun.”

Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller (7-2) has also been in strong form. Ranked a whisker behind Jacobs at No. 4 in the world, Schwaller dumped Italy’s Joel Retornaz 8-3 to move into sole possession of second place.

Scotland’s Bruce Mouat beat American Korey Dropkin to move into third spot at 7-3, just ahead of Sweden’s Niklas Edin at 6-3.

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