Canada and Norway lead the way as the 2007 Ford World Men's Curling Championship roared to life in this curling-crazed city in western Canada.

Canada's Glenn Howard defeated Finland's Markku Uusipaavalniemi, the 2006 Olympic silver medallist, by a 7-3 count and then upended Denmark's Johnny Frederiksen 8-4 while Norway's Thomas Ulsrud, the 2006 world bronze medallist, upended Switzerland 7-6 and Australia 7-4.
12 teams are battling for the global championship in addition to valuable Olympic qualification points leading up to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Howard won two world championships as third for his brother Russ in 1987 and 1993, and is impressed with his team's early.

"I think we're really sharp for the first couple of games," said Howard. "If we can just keep playing well I like our chances against anyone."

Results and statistics can be found at the CCA web site.

We also carry the results and standings (but not updated during the games)
Denmark's Frederiksen, a surprise winner his opening match against three-time world champion Peja Lindholm of Sweden, struggled early against Canada and conceded after the ninth end of play.

"It was quite a slow start, we were a bit nervous I think," said Frederiksen.  "At the end we played a little better."

Frederiksen said the pressure is on his team following Denmark's surprise silver medal at the women's world championships in Japan last week. Angelina Jensen led her squad to the final before falling 8-4 to Canada's Kelly Scott.

"We all watched the game on Eurosport, it was quite awesome for Danish curling," said Frederiksen. "A lot of people have come up to us and said 'now you have to do better than the girls. It puts a lot of pressure on us from our friends and family."

Over 170,000 tickets have been sold, breaking the old world curling mark set by Winnipeg, Canada in 2003. The venue for this year's championship is Rexall Place, the cavernous home to the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers.

Lindholm dumped Finland 6-4 and faces Canada in Sunday night action, while Germany's veteran Andy Kapp meets up with Korean newcomer Je Ho Lee.

The Sunday afternoon draw features Germany against Scotland's Warwick Smith, Switzerland against Australia, Korea versus France's Thomas Dufour and Todd Birr of the United States against Ulsrud's Norwegian squad.