By Liam Morgan

John Morris and his Canadian teammates have a dominant 22-8 lead going in to the final day ©Getty ImagesCanada moved closer to claiming the Continental Cup of Curling crown on home ice as they dominated the second day of play against Team Europe in Calgary.


The hosts enjoyed a clean-sweep in the afternoon session before they claimed another two wins in the evening to stretch their lead to 22-8.

Earlier in the morning, two mixed doubles victories ensured they put a clear distance between themselves and Team Europe, and the "Ryder Cup" of curling now looks set to be heading back to North America.

The squad of Matt Wozniak and Val Sweeting, who has been in sensational form of late, got Canada off to the best possible start with an 8-3 win over Scott Andrews and Margaretha Sigfridsson.

Scottish duo Eve Muirhead and David Murdoch - who both skipped their Great Britain teams to medals at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games - then recovered from 5-0 down to give Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris a scare, but the Canadian pair eventually edged the contest 8-5.

There was some joy for Team Europe as Anna Sloan, alongside teammate Christoffer Svae, stole one with a superb last-rock draw to claim a tight 6-5 victory.

That gave Canada a 17-7 lead going into the afternoon session, which was totally dominated by the host nation.

Morris, Pat Simmons, Carter Rycroft and Nolan Thiessen struggled early on as they went behind to Murdoch's side, but they launched a spirited fightback to turn the contest on its head.

"We battled back hard, a good character builder," Morris said.

"We were down 5-2 at the break and it wasn't looking good.

"We just weren't sharp enough, but we got some breaks and turned it around."

Thomas Ulsrud and his Norwegian team entertained the crowd during their superb 8-3 victory over Canadian Olympic champion Brad Jacobs ©Getty ImagesThomas Ulsrud and his Norwegian team entertained the crowd during their superb 8-3 victory over Canadian Olympic champion Brad Jacobs ©Getty Images



That win proved the catalyst for an afternoon of Canadian control as Jennifer Jones' team swept past Anna Sidorova of Russia 7-3, and Rachel Homan led her side to a narrow 6-5 win against Muirhead.

Despite trailing by 13 points at the start of the evening session, Team Europe kept battling and the Norwegian team - made up of Thomas Ulsrud, Torger Nergård, Svae and Håvard Vad Petersson - earned a superb victory over the Canadian team led by Olympic champion Brad Jacobs.

They then provided the highlight of the evening for the Canadian crowd as they danced in their underwear, but the smiles were soon wiped off their faces once more as Canada took the last two matches of the evening to leave them on the brink of taking the title.

The first to 30.5 points will be crowned champions and the four-day event comes to a conclusion with skins matches tomorrow.

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