Canada’s quest for perfection at the 2022 BTK Tires & OK Tire World Women’s Curling Championship ended in disappointment Saturday night at CN Centre.
After a mistake-free 9-2 win over Italy in the afternoon draw, Kerri Einarson and her Gimli, Man., rink stumbled out of the gate, allowing three stolen points in the first two ends of their evening game against Marianne Rorvik of Norway on the way to a 6-4 loss.
“We got off to a great start, we knew we would have to play very well to beat the Canadian team, so we went out there and tried to be offensive,” said Norwegian third Kristin Skaslien.
“We really want to win and we tried to make the most of every shot. It’s always fun to play against Canada, you know you have to be at your top level. You sharpen up a bit when you meet Canada because you know they’re so good.”
Skaslien throws skip stones for Norway and she came up with a clutch draw in the ninth end to keep Einarson from potentially grabbing the lead. Down 5-4, Einarson buried her second shooter with the stone biting on the four-foot, which left them sitting two without shot rock. But Skaslien had an answer for that when she came in from the left with a draw and stuck is solidly in four-foot territory to take a two-point lead coming home.
Einarson made a last-ditch attempt at setting up a steal of two in the 10th to for an extra end but ticked off a guard, leaving nothing but yellow Norwegian stones in the house, sealing the two-point victory.
Canada was in an uphill battle from the get-go. Rorvik stole two in the first end when Einarson’s missed her hit-and-stick attempt and that put two on the board for Norway. They made it a 3-0 game with another steal in the second when Einarson was heavy on her draw.
“Every single team here is going to make you pay if you have a mistake out there, so we just have to minimize those and capitalize when we get an opportunity,” said Shannon Birchard, Einarson’s second.
“We just were struggling getting a handle on the paths and the weight was pretty different from our pre-game practice and we didn’t quite settle into the ice as quickly as they did.”
Canada got back in the game in the third. Einarson had a chance for three on a double takeout but could not hold the shooter and had to settle for two. Norway blanked the fourth end and had a chance for a deuce in the fifth until Einarson pulled off a hit-and-roll that left her with shot rock in the four-foot behind cover. Skaslien hooked her hand slightly as he let go her first shot and her shooter ticked off a guard and she was forced to settle for one.
Einarson had a chance to get that back in the sixth, trying for a raised takeout with Norway sitting one on the back button, but the sweepers Birchard and lead Briane Meilleur stayed on the brooms a bit too long and on the run back their stone slid too far, giving Norway another steal.
An angle-raise for Canada cut Rorvik’s lead to 5-3 in the seventh end.
Einarson came within a whisker of stealing two to tie the game in the eighth but a measurement determined Norway’s rock in the eight-foot blue ice was closer and Canada had to settle for a single to get within one.
Einarson said her team and coach Reid Carruthers will spend some time dissecting the game, trying to figure out where they made their mistakes and figuring out how to correct them. They got off to a 1-1 start last year at the world tournament in Calgary and then lost four straight, recovering in time to even their record at 7-7 to guarantee a Beijing Olympics berth for Canada. Einarson says the harsh lessons learned last year prepared them better for what they’re up against for the next eight days.
“We’re 1-1 first day and it’s going to be a grind all week,” said the 34-year-old skip “We definitely feel like we’re a different team (from last year) and we’re a little more relaxed a maybe not as uptight. Today was good, we just have to be a little sharper tomorrow.”
With 10 round-robin games still to play on their calendar, Birchard said she isn’t going to let Canada’s opening-day loss get them down.
“I think we have to draw on our earlier game today and how well we played there and I think there’s no reason to get worried to get worried after this game,” she said. “We battled back and did what we could and it’s a new day tomorrow.”
TEAM SCOTLAND CLOBBERED BY COVID
Right next to the Canada-Norway game, on Sheet C, Scotland took on the two-time defending world champions from Switzerland. Just having enough players to start the game was a feat in itself for Scotland when skip Rebecca Morrison and alternate Fay Henderson were placed into COVID protocol Friday night.
The call went out to 21-year-old Beth Farmer in Scotland to get on a plane as soon as possible to get to Prince George. Farmer works as a shepherd at Parks of Aldie Farm near her home in Kinross, Scotland and this is one of the busiest times of year during lambing season. She was just getting ready to start her shift when she got the call at 7:30 a.m. Saturday morning.
Farmer was still en route to Prince George when the players took to the ice for the 7 p.m. game and Scotland went with just three players. Even at full strength it would have been a tall order trying to knock off Swiss skip Silvana Trinzoni and her seasoned crew of world champions. Gina Aitken took over as Scottish skip and second Sophie Sinclair and lead Sophie Jackson they did their best to stay in the game but gave up 10 stolen points in their 12-2 loss that was over in six ends.
In the other evening draws, Denmark (Madeleine Dupont) defeated Germany (Danielle Jentsch) 11-8. Japanese skip Ikue Kitazawa needed 12 ends to score a 7-6 win over Turkey (Dilsat Yildiz). This is Turkey’s first-ever appearance at the women’s world championships.
SUNDAY’S SCHEDULE
Canada is back on the ice for two games Sunday, starting with a 2 p.m. draw against Turkey. They’ll play Switzerland in a marquee matchup at 7 p.m.
The 9 a.m. draw includes Switzerland vs. Sweden, Germany vs. South Korea, Italy vs. Japan, and Scotland vs. Czech Republic.
The 2 p.m. draw also features South Korea vs. Czech Republic, United States vs. Italy, and Sweden vs. Denmark.
The other 7 p.m. games are Japan vs. USA, Denmark vs. Scotland and Norway vs. Germany.
