MONCTON, N.B. April 9, 2009 — Canada's Kevin Martin will play in the Page playoff one vs. two game Friday night at the Ford world men's curling championship at the Moncton Coliseum.

Game time is set for 6:30 p.m. (all times Eastern) on TSN, with Canada's opponent to be decided in Thursday night's final round-robin draw, when Canada will close out against David Murdoch of Scotland.

Murdoch's team, the runner-up to Martin last year at the world championship in Grand Forks, N.D., clinched at least a tiebreaker berth by beating Ulrik Schmidt of Denmark 10-3. The Scots, 7-3 and winners of three straight since losing twice on Tuesday, scored two in the first, stole one in the second and sealed the win with four in the ofurth end and three more in the sixth to prompt handshakes. Denmark closed out with a 5-6 record.

"We always need some kind of bad loss to really give us that kick in the backside," said Murdoch, referring to the Tuesday struggles. "Once we have that loss, we seem to come out with all guns blazing. Maybe that's a good thing; we'll see at the end of the week."

Norway's Thomas Ulsrud, meanwhile, could have clinched an outright playoff spot, but wound up losing 9-3 to Andy Kapp of Germany. Kapp shot 96 per cent in the game, capping the victory with a steal of four in the 10th end to get to 6-4 and keep his playoff hopes alive. Norway finished with a 7-4 record and will await results of the 17th draw to determine its playoff fate.

In other action, Switzerland's Ralph Stoeckli won his fourth straight game, drubbing Kalle Kiiskinen of Finland 8-3. The Swiss opened with two in the first end, then stole one in the second and two more in the third en route to the win, which improved their record to 6-4. Finland finished the Ford worlds with a 1-10 record.

John Shuster of the United States kept his tiebreaker hopes alive by shading Jiri Snitil of the Czech Republic 7-6. The Americans stole single points in each of the first three ends, and added a game-breaking three in the eighth end to improve to 6-4. The Czechs finished the event with a 3-8 record.
Canada's Kevin Martin (10-0), China's Fengchun Wang (4-6), France's Thomas Dufour (4-6) and Japan's Yusuke Morozumi (3-7) all had byes in Draw 16.

The round-robin schedule wraps up Thursday with draws at 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., with TSN showing the Canadian game at 6:30 p.m. against Scotland. Curltv.com also will be broadcasting.

The top four teams following the conclusion of round-robin play on Thursday night will make the Page playoffs. The first- and second-place teams will play Friday at 6:30 p.m., with the winner going into Sunday's 6:30 p.m. championship game on TSN.

The third- and fourth-place teams will play Saturday at 9 a.m. for a berth in Saturday's 3 p.m. semifinal on TSN against the loser of the Page one-two game.