Hello from Karlstad where I am attending the European Championships and apologies that we are day 2 without an update but slight hiccup with the date on my laptop meant it would not let me access this blog as according to the date it had not yet been created!
The Karlstad Curling Club where the B Division games are being played has 8 sheets in two separate halls of 4 divided by a wall with round windows at eye level.While there is a common bar area, it is not possible to see the scoreboards in the other hall from the one in which one is sitting. This means a lot of walking back and forth to see the scores across the full 6 sheets that are being used (3 in each hall). It is a super brand new facility with great viewing from upstairs which is especially good for the coaches who do not need to sit outside in the rink freezing their whatnots.
With 4 sessions a day the umpires and icemen are very busy and also for those who are supporting a team in both genders, the days are long with first sessions at 0800 and last ones beginning at 2000.
The restriction to a regular 16 men's teams and 10 women's teams has produced a standardised draw for the B Division compared to previous years when the draw depended on the number of entries, but the unfortunate thing for the men is that their sessions are always at 0800 and 1600 while the women are on at 1200 and 2000. So England men for example have just had two consecutive 0800 starts with one more to come tomorrow - Tuesday will bring a welcome relief with a 1600 start.
So what of the games. The 10 women's teams include Latvia and Norway who came down from the A Division and Belarus and Turkey who came up from the C Division. The first shock was Turkey's win over Latvia at an extra end in the first session, and this was followed by another defeat for Latvia from neighbours Estonia before they settled themselves with a win over England. Norway had fairly straightforward wins over Slovakia and Belarus before a comprehensive 7-1 win over Poland. Poland themselves had started off in great style with a 14-3 demolition of Austria, which included a 6 at the 4th end.
After 3 sessions Norway are the only undefeated team while at the other end Slovakia have failed to win a game. England won a tense game 6-4 against Estonia with singles being scored at each of the ten ends, and then lost 4-11 to both Austria and Latvia.
No other home nation is involved in the women's B Division, with Wales and Ireland not entering at all this year and Scotland, of course, in the A Division, but in the men, England and Wales are in the Red Group and Ireland in the B Group. England began by losing 5-7 to a new young Italian team while Wales defeated Spain by 10-9 after a game of high scoring ends.Ireland were surprise winners by 6-5 over newly relegated Latvia and were 3-0 up against Croatia in their second game before losing by 7-3.
Wales have since lost 2 further games to Slovakia (2-9) and Italy (7-8) while England defeated a very promising Turkey team by 7-4. As I write England are back on the ice against Estonia while Ireland are playing Austria. Then at 2000 England's women are on against Spain.
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