Wednesday Chapter 1

Where to begin??

With a 1230 start for our game today I was not present at the rink for the first session of play and so missed seeing Scotland's men losing to Italy when Keith Prentice and his team lost a two against the hammer at the last end to go down by 5-6 though they still have a chance of qualifying for the quarter finals as described further down in the blog.

Also this morning Wales went down to Germany by 4-10 having been 1-8 down after3 ends.

It was difficult to know where to look during the 1230 session. But let's start from left to right.

Sheet A - Ireland v Slovakia - this was a fairly straightforward victory for Ireland and preserved their unbeaten record, though Tony Tierney had to leave the ice after 6 ends with a strain to be replaced for the final 2 ends by David Hume who had also played the first game of the week when Bill Gray was late arriving owing to a family wedding at the weekend. Slovakia stole a one at the third end to take a short lived 2-1 lead but 7 shots without reply left Ireland comfortably playing out the last end.

Sheet B - Norway v Sweden - the game between the 2 big guns in their section and this was a thriller which went to an extra end, won by Sweden. Some great shot making full of delicate touches and it was one of those low scoring games that are a joy to watch.The lead passed to and fro and it was 3-3 after 8. Norway were unable to get their last raise correctly angled against 3 and the Swedes maintained their 100% record.

Sheet C - England v Russia - this of course was where my focus was and England continued their aggressive strategy which had produced such good results against USA. A good first end which left them lying 4 before the Russian skip produced a fine double and roll behind forcing Michael Sutherland to draw for just 1. A reply of 1 by Russia before Michael produced a super split on a front stone to collect 3 at the third end, reinforced by a stolen 2 at the 4th and from there there was no way back for Russia.

Sheet D - Switzerland v Finland - another low scoring game, but unlike the one on Sheet B this was a very defensive game which saw the score at 2-2 after 5 ends with Finland holding last stone. Two blanked ends from Finland set up the last end and after the Swiss had built up a wall which the Finns gradually knocked
down the Swiss skip's final draw came up short leaving Timo Kauste with a draw anywhere in the circles for the win. Having played hits all game he probably had no idea of the draw weight and the stone sailed through the back. Extra end!!

A similar pattern emerged with guards out front. The Swiss skip's first stone was hit out of the circles by Kauste and his attempted raise with his second stone was achieved at an angle which left his shot fully exposed for a nose hit by Finland to win. The take-out was overthrown and the shooter rolled out for another blank end - that was 4 in a row and so a second extra end would ensue. Or would it - for some reason the Swiss team seemed to think that only one extra end was allowed for in the rule book, which has never been the case and still is not. They called for the Chief Umpire and after almost 10 minutes of argument the teams rightly began the second extra end. In the end the Swiss were left lying shot with a biter at the front with another Finnish biter lying close to it but second shot. While images of a widely thrown stone removing both biters and the shooter ran through many people's minds Timo Kauste this time achieved the nose hit on the Swiss biter to win with his.

The question is why did the Swiss skip think that such a rule existed - all games have to be played to a result  in Championship curling - how would they have decided who won? One comment heard was that this had happened to the same skip in the 2003 Championships in Winnipeg and so if the rule existed then so it must exist now - but of course the rule did not exist in Winnipeg and there the same Swiss team had lost to the Japanese after 2 extra ends!!

We are not finished yet!!!

Sheet E - Ireland ladies v Denmark ladies. A low scoring game which was notable for the Danish skip removing her own stone at the 6th end to give Ireland a steal of 1 and an eventual 5-3 victory.

Sheet F - Australia v Denmark. A rumour ran around that there was a chance of an 8 for Australia in this game and Hugh Millikan did indeed have a shot to lie 8 with the last Danish stone to come - in the end his shot jammed the Danish counter onto his own and he lost 2 shots when Denmark drew for the second shot. In the end though it was an 11-7 win for the Australians who remain undefeated but have Norway and Sweden still to play.

Sheet F - finally - Austria v Czech Republic. It was 5-2 for the Czechs after 3 ends and then singles at the remaining 5 ends brought the score to 6-6. Yet another extra end and this time a straightforward 3 for Austria to record their first victory of the Championships.

The afternoon session has just finished and there is still hope for the Scottish men after they beat Netherlands by 6-3 but it would require them to beat Hungary, and Netherlands to beat Italy which would leave the decision down to the Draw Shot Challenge results between Scotland, Japan and Italy to decide which two teams play the single tie break allowed for in the timetable to decide who is third in the section behind Canada and New Zealand. The team with the worst DSC would be eliminated.

Scotland's women kept themselves in contention with a hard fought 6-5 win over the USA. They have two games left tomorrow, versus Ireland and then Canada who were stunned in this session by the Russian ladies who were 4-1 up after 4 ends before losing a 3 and 5 to the favourites.

Off for dinner now!!!!