FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 7, 2008

Denmark hands USA second loss at 2008 World Men's Championship

(GRAND FORKS, N.D.) - Denmark's Johnny Frederiksen rink committed larceny against the USA's Craig Brown team Monday night as the young Danes squeaked out a 7-6 win at the 2008 World Men's Curling Championship.

Brown (Madison, Wis.) and teammates Rich Ruohonen (Brooklyn Park, Minn.), John Dunlop (Milwaukee, Wis.) and Pete Annis (Owatonna, Minn.) now fall into a three-way tie for third place with a 3-2 record after tonight's loss. Brown had to draw the four-foot with his final stone in the 10th end to clinch the win but came out just a tad too heavy to give Denmark the steal and the win.

"That's a tough one to lose," said Ruohonen, an attorney with Pritzker, Ruohonen and Associates in the Twin Cities. "I thought he threw it well but just had a little too much weight."

The U.S. got off to an unexpected start vaulting to a 3-0 lead after stealing the opening end as Frederiksen drew down into a nest of U.S. rocks and nudged into them and rolled too far. Frederiksen redeemed himself with a deuce in the second end. The Danes tied the game at 3-3 when Brown couldn't remove the two Danish stones frozen together in the top four-foot. "We had the lead early and gave it away... it's disappointing," Ruohonen said.

After exchanging singles, Brown drew the button for another single in the sixth end to regain the lead at 5-4. Frederiksen's final stone in the seventh end over-curled as he tried to chip out the U.S. stone in the four-foot giving the U.S. a 6-4 advantage.

The Danish skip made a clutch draw to the four-foot in a sea of five U.S. rocks in the eighth end. The U.S. had a chance to seal the win in the ninth end after Brown removed a Danish stone wedged next to two other U.S. rocks to the lie three rocks in scoring position to the delight of the 2,122 fans in attendance. Frederiksen drew down behind the center guard to grab shot position at the top of the four-foot. Brown narrowly missed the runback on his second attempt giving the Danes a steal of one to tie the game heading into the 10th end.

"That's the one that hurt the most," Ruohonen said. "We would have had the game pretty much won there if we'd grabbed the four, but we ended up giving it away."

In the 10th end the U.S. tried to keep the house open to give Brown a draw for the win but struggled to peel the guards efficiently. "We're just not making the double peels," Ruohonen said. "Especially when we get a lead, those double peels are critical."

Brown's American team will return to the ice at 9 a.m. tomorrow against Australia (3-2).

Live webstreaming of the 2008 World Men's Championship can be found at www.wcsn.com or www.curltv.com.

CBS College Sports Network will air a two-hour program from the 2008 Men's Worlds from 8-10 p.m. ET on May 1.

Game scores: Denmark 7, USA 6; Norway 7, Sweden 5; Australia 8, Czech Republic 5; Canada 6, Scotland 5

USA line score:
*Denmark 021 010 011 1  7
USA  300 101 100 0  6
*last stone in first end

Standings:
Canada   5-0
Germany  4-1
Australia  3-2
Norway  3-2
USA   3-2
China   2-3
Czech Republic 2-3
Denmark  2-3
France   2-3
Scotland  2-3
Sweden   1-4
Switzerland  1-4

USA Curling is sponsored by AIT Worldwide Logistics, AmerAust Technologies and Nike.

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For more information: Terry Kolesar, USA Curling, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , 715-344-1199, Ext. 202, or 608-338-9900 (cell).