An unexpected scare for Chelsea Carey and Team Canada this afternoon when they took on Federica Apollonio and Team Italy.

Entering the contest tied for first at 5-1, Canada needed to score their single point in the tenth end to survive with a 5-4 win over the Italians.

After the back-end of Carey and Amy Nixon curled 80% against the Italians, Carey says the ice conditions were tough to adjust to.

"It's just too heavy, it's just so heavy and frosty. "In the mornings it's great, like this morning was wonderful, the ice was fantastic. It's really conducive, it's what you'd expect,” Carey said.

“It's tough here. It must be the weather and the crowds. The crowds are fantastic but all those people in the building heats everything up and the frost just creeps in.”

The ice condition made an immediate impact for Team Canada.

Laying one in the first end, Carey had a draw to the four foot for two and came up well light.

"I looked like a fool in the first end," said Carey. "I threw it exactly how we wanted me to and I looked like an idiot because I came up 10 feet short.

"That's really hard to deal with mentally because I don't miss draws by 10 feet in normal conditions.”

Trailing 3-2 in the seventh end, Carey picked up the first two of the game, taking a 4-3 lead.

The Italians went on to blank the eighth before being forced to their single in nine.

With hammer in ten, Canadian lead Laine Peters made two tick shots, setting the tone for the end.

The Italians final stone over-curled on a draw attempt meaning Carey did not have to throw her last rock.

With the win, the Canadians improved to 6-1 and remained in a tie for first place with Switzerland, who also picked up a pair of wins.

Canada will now have the morning off tomorrow before resuming play at 2:00pm against Team Korea.