Canada men's curling falls 5-2 to Sweden for 1st round-robin loss

Canada's men's curling team suffered their first defeat of round-robin play early Saturday morning, falling 5-2 to a tough Swedish rink.

After a blank first end, Canada got on board in the second with a deuce, holding that lead into the fifth end. However, as Sweden found their bearings with back-to-back deuces in the fifth and sixth ends, Canada simply had no answer. Sweden's three-point lead in the 10th end would prove insurmountable, as skip Kevin Koe overthrew his second-last stone to seal Canada's defeat.

Sweden's skip (and opening ceremony flag bearer) Niklas Edin was essentially flawless in the game, shooting 100 percent.

It was only the third loss for the Canadian men's rink at an Olympics since the Torino games in 2006, though Koe isn't sweating the mid-tournament hiccup.

"No time to panic," Koe told CBC's Devin Heroux after the game. "I liked the way we played. I had a couple of misses, but overall we played well."

The result avenged a loss suffered by Edin's rink at the 2017 World Men's Curling Championship in Edmonton last April; in the gold-medal game, the Swedes fell 4-2 to a Canadian team led by Newfoundland's Brad Gushue.