BEIJING -- Brad Gushue had options for closing out a round-robin game against Norway at the Beijing Games on Thursday.

Tied with hammer in the 10th end, the Canadian skip could have made a hit for the victory but instead chose to make a game-winning draw.

Not a bad choice when your draw weight has been perfect.

Gushue found a piece of the button with his last throw for a 6-5 victory over Norway's Steffen Walstad at the Ice Cube.

"If Brad's got to touch the four-foot to win a game, I like our chances," said Canada vice Mark Nichols.

The final end was set up by two perfect tick shots by Canadian lead Geoff Walker. Walstad couldn't apply pressure and settled for a shot stone on the side of the eight-foot ring.

"If I can't draw the eight-foot, I shouldn't be here," Gushue said. "That's my attitude. That's my forte. That's what I'm best at.

"If I throw it close, the guys are going to handle it down there."

Canada shot 92 per cent as a team and Gushue finished at 99 per cent, making all seven of his draws.

The Canadians (2-0), who beat Denmark's Mikkel Krause 10-5 a day earlier, shared first place with Sweden's Niklas Edin, a 7-4 winner over American John Shuster.

The only other unbeaten men's skip, Great Britain's Bruce Mouat (1-0), opened with a 7-5 win over Italy's Joel Retornaz. Russia's Sergey Glukhov scored four in the ninth end for a 7-4 victory over China's Ma Xiuyue in the other men's game.

Gushue caught a nice break in the first end when his last shot rubbed a stone and spun in for a deuce. Walstad answered with a pair of his own in the second.

Gushue made a double-bump for two in the eighth end for a 5-3 lead.

Walstad pulled even with an impressive angle-raise takeout in the ninth but Gushue's side was in control with hammer coming home.

"They played well and put rocks in good spots," Nichols said of the Norwegians. "The deuce he made in nine was two unbelievable skip stones.

"If they play like that they're going to put pressure on a lot of teams and win a lot of games."

Walstad finished at 85 per cent and his foursome threw at 87 per cent overall.

Gushue and Nichols won Olympic gold in 2006 at the Turin Games in Italy. This is the first Olympic appearance for Walker and second Brett Gallant.

Norway booked its Beijing ticket by winning the Olympic qualifying event in December.

Vice-skip Torger Nergaard is playing in his sixth Winter Games. He made his Olympic debut as an alternate on Pal Trulsen's team at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

In the opening women's round-robin draw, Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni shaded Great Britain's Eve Muirhead 6-5 in an extra end and defending champion Anna Hasselborg of Sweden beat Japan's Satsuki Fujisawa 8-5.

American Tabitha Peterson dumped Russia's Alina Kovaleva 9-3 and Denmark's Madeleine Dupont edged China's Han Yu 7-6.

Skip Jennifer Jones will lead the Canadian women's team into its round-robin opener later Thursday against South Korea's EunJung Kim.

Canada was shut out of the team medals for the first time at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games in South Korea.

John Morris and Kaitlyn Lawes won mixed doubles gold that year in the discipline's Olympic debut. Morris and Rachel Homan did not make the playoffs this year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 10, 2022.