So on the ice this evening in front of a packed house it was Australia v Norway, Scotland v Canada, Sweden v New Zealand and Ireland v Finland - for a full review of the Irish game see Louise Kerr's blog on the Irish Curling Association website here - suffice to say here that the Irish came from behind and took advantage of a dreadful error by the Finnish skip who more or less gifted them a steal of 4 shots to help them win by 8-4.
Scotland v Canada was the match that attracted a lot of attention, firstly just because it was Scotland v Canada and secondly, how would the 2 extra end matches already played today affect the Scottish team. The two teams romped through the first 4 ends in about 52 minutes at which point Norway and Australia were still on their third end, and when the seventh end began the latter were still on their 5th!! Two contrasting games, yet equally interesting.
With last stone Canada took a single at the first end when I am pretty certain they were trying to blank and Scotland then blanked the second end when my notes say just one word - "Yawn". You can guess how that end was played out!! Scotland tried to get something going in the 3rd end by immediately drawing around a Canadian centre guard twice (great stuff from Tommy Fleming) and forced the Canadians to remove their own centre guard. The Scots had built up 4 stones in the house but then 3 double take-outs by the Canadians reduced Keith Prentice to trying to blank the end - unfortunately he nosed it and Scotland were all square without hammer.
The 4th end was very much like the second and Canada blanked it - so at half time it was 1-1. At the 5th end we had a Scottish miss and after the Canadian third split the house the end ran out with successive hits to give Canada the 2 they were looking for and a 3-1 lead. At last at the 6th end we had a guddle - sorry - an aggressive end!! There were lots of Canadian stones in play in the house but a great draw by Lockhart Steele got one in among them though this was bettered by the Canadian skip before Keith Prentice tapped a Canadian rock back to lie shot himself at the top of the button. It looked then as though the Canadian skip decided that he would give Scotland one and so he added another stone to the pile to stop Scotland getting another shot but there was still a draw on the other hand which Keith then went for but he came up slightly short and just scored one for a 3-2 scoreline to Canada.
At the 7th end Scotland tried again to get something going to get their 2 but eventually they had to be content with playing out the end for the blank. So last end and Scotland need to steal. Two good centre guards from Tommy Fleming while the Canadians threw through began the end. Two good draws by Robin Aitken while the Canadians peeled the guards and then a guard again by Lockhart Steele, which was also peeled, followed. Lockhart's next guard was slightly offline and the Canadians elected to ignore it and go for the shots in the house. A nose hit double removed one and moved the other to the side leaving, it seemed, the Canadian shooter as shot. Keith then tried to draw inside that stone but played it heavy and ended up in the back 12 foot. The Canadian skip, Kelly Robertson then drew to the top of the 4 and Keith's last shot simply pushed the other Canadian stone in at which point hands were shaken,with the final score 5-2 to Canada.
This very lonely corner guard was spotted during the Scotland v Canada game:
I was sitting at the side of the ice to escape the heat from the bar and so I must apologise to Sweden and New Zealand for paying less interest to their game than those closest to me. However it seemed all over when the Swedes raced into a 5-1 lead after 6 and the Kiwis got only one back at the 7th, but Swedish skip Connie Ostlund was facing 3 new Zealand Counters when he came to play his last stone. Unfortunately for the New Zealanders he hit one and rolled out to secure his passage through to the semi-finals where he will play Canada.
Sheet A next to where I was sitting was Norway v Australia who were trying for their third successive semi-final.This game was played at a slow pace for the first half and the first three ends took nearly 55 minutes. But there were a lot of guards in play and neither team seemed content to be defensive and both played aggressive curling.
At the first end Eigil Ramsfjell had to draw the 4 foot against 2, which he did, At the second end Hugh Millikin had to draw the 4 feet to get 2, which he failed to do. At the third end Hugh tapped his own stone to the back of the 4 foot well guarded but Eigil found a couple of angles on short stones to raise his own stone to the button and take a 2-1 lead. Again in the 4th end we had lots of stones in the 4 foot.Unfortunately a missed Australian peel took out one of their own stones and Hugh was left with a outside edge double which he just failed to get totally correctly and he only scored one - 2-2 after 4.
In the 5th end two great stones by the Australian second, Steve Hewitt - a draw and a hit and roll behind a centre guard left them lying one guarded after Sjur Loen was short with a draw. This time Eigil could not find the correct set of angles and Australia stole 1 to go 3-2 up.
The 6th end was the killer for the Australians. Norway had a corner guard with one stone behind and after an Aussie mistake it became two stones behind. Australian third, John Thierault played for the freeze but simply sat alongside the Norwegian shots at which point Sjur Loen then played a great soft weight hit and roll into his own shots to lie a closely grouped 3 shots. In attempting to remove these shots Hugh Millikan then wrecked on the corner guard which was followed by an exquisite hit by Eigil on an Australian stone at the top of the house and a perfect roll to lie guard on the 12 foot. Hugh then tried to remove as many as possible but only caught the front one leaving Eigil a free draw for 4.
Some great peeling by the Norwegians at the 7th end but there was still a guard left to draw around. Eigil then wrecked on the guard but then another mistake by Australia left a simple double for Norway which was followed by Hugh Millikan blanking to keep last stone at the 8th. The last end seemed to be a pretty straightforward affair although Rob Gagnon hogged a guard for Australia. and then Morten Sogard simply ticked a centre guard rather than peeling it and then Sjur Loen missed a peel and Eigil was left with a hit on one of two Australian counters either of which could have easily jammed on a back Norwegian stone, but he made it and Norway were through to meet Ireland tomorrow morning - in about 9 hours time actually!!
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