In what was in effect a sudden-death match against the Netherlands at the world championships qualification tournament, the men's team never got out of first gear and ended up losing 9-2.
Going into the match - the last round of pool play - New Zealand was a win ahead of Netherlands and sitting third on the table in the final qualifying spot for today's playoffs.
New Zealand had to play well last night but it never fired a shot and was behind straight away.
The match finished after the seventh of the 10 ends with the Netherlands too far ahead to be caught.
In the match between the top two teams, South Korea beat England 8-6 last night and those two teams will play off this morning. The winner of that game will qualify for the world championships while the loser will play the Netherlands in the afternoon. The winner of that game also qualifies for the world championships.
The New Zealand men had caused an upset yesterday morning, when it beat previously unbeaten England 7-5.
New Zealand showed real composure to gain three shots in the last three ends to win the match and go tied on points with England and South Korea.
If South Korea had beaten the Netherlands yesterday morning, it would have made New Zealand's position safe going into the final game last night but the Dutch curlers played above themselves and won the match 9-6.
The New Zealand women ended the competition without a win although the side came very close in its final match yesterday afternoon.
It was leading Poland 9-8 going into the last end in a see-sawing game but Poland scored a two in the final end to win 10-9.
In the women's playoffs today, Finland will play China in the morning with the winner qualifying for the world championships. The loser of that match will play Hungary in the game to decide the second qualifier.
