Trailing the two-time defending champions from Switzerland, a red rock convention in the sixth end was the last thing Kerri Einarson needed to see resting in the rings on the ice at CN Centre.
Those four red stones all belonged to Swiss skip Silvana Tirinzoni and it was up to Einarson, down to her last shot, to try to figure out a way to rid of them and try to claw back into contention at the BTK Tires & OK Tire World Women’s Curling Championship.
The Team Canada skip put all her might into the shot down the middle, trying for a double takeout, but missed it and gave up a steal of four. It was a huge disappointment for Einarson when she was forced to concede an 11-3 loss to the powerful Swiss, who played a virtually mistake-free game.
The Swiss team finished fourth at the Beijing Olympics last month after going through the tournament with an 8-1 record and with three wins in three tries at world’s in Prince George that comes as a relief to Tirinzoni, knowing her team has got its groove back.
“We’re really happy to be here, it’s almost like we needed to come back out after the Olympics just to get on the winning road again and we are really enjoying ourselves,” she said. “When you play with self-confidence you’re not afraid to play with a lot of rocks in play. We’re not afraid of playing with some risks and its working out right now.”
The win improves Switzerland’s record to 3-0, while Canada dropped to 2-2.
“They played a really great first end, they had us hooped,” said Einarson. “You’ve got to get your rocks in some good spots and we didn’t. When we didn’t we paid for it.”
“We’re getting there, we aren’t panicking.”
The vultures began circling the Team Canada camp right away in the first end when Tirinzoni executed a come-around freeze the Swiss left well-guarded. Einarson missed a hit on her first shot that left three opposition rocks in the rings. Alina Patz, throwing skip stones, added one to the mix and Einarson brought the heat on her takeout and got rid of two, but left it open for Patz’s draw which scored three.
Holding the hammer in the second end, Einarson’s accuracy was tested in the second end when she needed to feather a guard to take out a Swiss rock and stick in the eight-foot and she successfully pulled it off. Patz clipped a guard on her second shot and that set up Einarson hit and roll for two that left them within a point, down 3-2.
In the third, Einarson made a perfect hit to get the double and left her shooter in the 12-foot ring. Patz needed to hit straight back for her double and she nailed it. Val Sweeting set the broom on the Swiss guard and called for a half-hit trying for another double. Einarson threw it hard, perhaps too hard, and missed the stone by half an inch which left an open draw for three for Patz and a 6-2 lead.
The trouble continued for Canada in the fourth and they had to work hard to get a point. Patz was precise in her aim on a double hit that cleaned two yellow Canadian rocks out of harm’s way and left four of her own in scoring position. That left Einarson with a straight hit and only the sweeping of lead Briane Meilleur kept her rock from curling and producing a possibly disastrous outcome.
Einarson made a critical angle freeze in the fifth to force the Swiss to take a single, which kept Canada’s faint hopes alive. A measurement determined it was just one and Switzerland led 7-4.
“They had us in for it the first end; we had a couple half-shots and they made absolutely everything and we got down three,” said Canada’s second, Shannon Birchard. “We responded with a deuce but that three again almost sealed the deal. It was going to be a tough hill to climb at that point.
“In the sixth end we had to kind of gamble everything and unfortunately it didn’t work out for us. We’re just going to take it in stride and come out strong tomorrow We had hoped to have a 3-1 record but there’s lots of event left and I think we learned that last year. We’re in a better spot than we were last year so we I think can take that as a win and push forward.”
An energetic Sunday night crowd of 1,527, the largest of the event so far, populated the green seats of the 5,971-capacity arena and while the loudest cheers were reserved for Team Canada, the Swiss team also felt the some of the love from the fans.
“We haven’t played in front of a crowd for almost two years now, so this also for us was fantastic,” said Tirinzoni. “Obviously they were cheering for them but they were very fair and when we made a great shot they were applauding for us so for us it was really special to hear the people making some noise. It was great, I loved it.”
Swiss teams have won six of the last nine world women’s championships. The 42-year-old Tirinzoni hadn’t played a world championship on Canadian soil since 1998, when she skipped a team at the world juniors in Thunder Bay.
“This is special, for sure,” she said.
Seeing his players struggling to read the ice, Team Canada coach Reid Carruthers called a timeout early in he game to try to settle his team, but it failed to have the desired effect. He knows his curlers are capable of playing much better, having seen all four of them top the positional charts with their shot-making at the Scotties tournament in Thunder Bay, Ont., where they went 11-1.
“We’re not far off,” said Carruthers. “We don’t have the record we were hoping to have at this point in the event but at the same time I’m happy with the overall attitude of the girls out there and I feel we’re making pretty good throws.
“But we’re maybe not catching on to the ice as well as what we should have. It was a hair straighter tonight than our earlier game and the girls got a little bit caught.”
In the other late games Sunday, Japanese skip Ikue Kitazawa Japan recovered from a 6-4 deficit in the eighth end to beat Minnesota native Cory Christensen 7-6 and hand Team USA its first loss. That moved Japan (3-0) into a first-place tie with Switzerland and South Korea. Norway improved to 2-1 with an 11-6 triumph over winless Germany (0-3).
The event resumes Monday at 9 a.m. with two games – Italy vs. Norway, Czech Republic vs. Sweden.
Canada plays Denmark (Madeleine Dupont) Monday at 2 p.m. The Danes are off to a 2-1 start.
The Scotland-Japan game scheduled for Monday morning has been cancelled as well as the Canada-Scotland game at 7 p.m. after Scotland withdrew from the tournament after two more team members tested positive for COVID.
“That’s something that we’re all pretty anxious about coming into this event and just wanted to make sure we were all healthy and able to play the full event as a team,” said Birchard.
“I feel horrible for them. I hope they are all doing well and are not too sick. It’s got to be disappointing for them and I wish them the best. I think we’re confident in what we’re doing so far, we trust there are protocols in place to keep us safe and we ourselves are also doing what we can to make sure we limit our contacts.”
With Scotland having played two games, both losses, all the teams that didn’t play them will be awarded a win and there’s no need to adjust the game schedule.
