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OAKVILLE, Ont. — Niklas Edin battled through the B-side to qualify for the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard playoffs, but a bad break in the sixth end nearly spoiled the 6-3 victory Saturday over William Lyburn.

Edin, of Sweden, led 3-2 with the hammer when a double peel attempt resulted in a jam and opened up the potential for Lyburn to steal the lead.

“We tried to double peel and we kind of stuffed everything in there so after that shot it changed the end,” Edin said. “They had a chance to even steal two but he came a little deep on his last guard so we could run that in and fortunately got two out of it.”

Lyburn, of Winnipeg, settled for a single in the seventh end and Edin closed it out with another point coming home in eight.

Still, it was the four-point swing in the sixth from possibly giving up a pair to scoring a deuce that turned out to be the game-changer.

“That was a big break, but I think over the whole game we played really well. It was just a couple of shots in that sixth end that almost messed it up, but that’s how tight it is at this level. You have to play well all the way.”

Edin lost 5-2 to Kyle Smith of Scotland during the A-qualifiers Friday night. Smith scored four in the first end and Edin was unable to find a way to close the gap. The two-time world champion was quick to praise the young Team Smith squad, who are coached by Edin’s former teammate Viktor Kjell.

“They’re super solid now. They have a really strong lineup,” Edin said. “Messing up badly in the first end from our end and then just no chance coming back from that.

“We need to focus harder from the beginning, I think. We’ve been struggling the first couple of ends against pretty much all of the teams except for this game now (against Lyburn), so we’re trying to work on that and trying to come stronger into the games.”

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– Glenn Howard of Penetanguishene, Ont., also qualified through the B-side and in quick fashion to boot with a 5-1 victory in just four ends over Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers. Howard stole a single in the third to take the lead and swiped three more points in the fourth when Carruthers’ final shot rolled clear through the house without hitting any counters.

– Carruthers bounced back beating Greg Balsdon’s team from Kingston, Ont., 5-4 in the C-qualifiers.

– Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher stole two in the sixth and one in the seventh to win 7-4 over Peter de Cruz of Switzerland and advance through the B-qualifiers. De Cruz downed Scotland’s Tom Brewster 8-3 in the C-qualifiers to advance.

– It was “Super Saturday” for John Morris and his B.C. based team. Morris rode through the C-side winning three consecutive games on the day — capped with a 6-4 victory over Lyburn — to qualify for the playoffs.

– Sherry Middaugh of Coldwater, Ont., stole singles in the final two ends to seal a 6-3 win over Anna Hasselborg of Sweden in their B-qualifier. Hasselborg advanced through the C-side defeating Isabella Wrana 7-1 in a rematch of last weekend’s all-Swedish final at the Oakville OCT Fall Classic.

– Silvana Tirinzoni made it through the B-side battle against Swiss compatriot Binia Feltscher. Tirinzoni scored an 8-4 extra-end victory to move onto Sunday morning’s quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Feltscher’s tournament ended in the C-final as Heather Heggestad of Thornhill, Ont., stunned the reigning world champion 8-5.

– Allison Flaxey of Caledon, Ont., scored a deuce in the seventh and stole two coming home to qualify with a 6-4 comeback win over Jacqueline Harrison of Mississauga, Ont.

– American Nina Roth locked down the final women’s playoff spot with a 10-6 win over Winnipeg’s Cathy Overton-Clapham. Roth stole treys in the seventh and eighth ends.

More to come.