Canadian seniors rule rings at curling worlds

Men's, women's teams take gold medals

Posted: 1:00 AM CDT Sunday, Apr. 21, 2013

FREDERICTON -- Canadian skips Rob Armitage and Cathy King both took gold Saturday at the world senior curling championships.

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FREDERICTON -- Canadian skips Rob Armitage and Cathy King both took gold Saturday at the world senior curling championships.

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FREDERICTON — Canadian skips Rob Armitage and Cathy King both took gold Saturday at the world senior curling championships.

Armitage’s men’s team from Red Deer, Alta., defeated New Zealand’s Hans Frauenlob 6-4, while King’s Edmonton outfit beat Austria’s Veronika Huber 13-1 as both Canadian teams finished with unbeaten records.

It was the sixth time in the tournament’s 12-year history that Canada has swept the gold medals and also marked the 51st straight victory for Canadian women’s teams dating back to 2008.

CNS
michael burns photo archives
Edmonton skip Cathy King needed an extra end to beat Sweden in a semifinal earlier Saturday. — CNS michael burns photo archives Edmonton skip Cathy King needed an extra end to beat Sweden in a semifinal earlier Saturday.

Overall, Canada has eight men’s and nine women’s titles at the event.

“It’s fantastic,” said King, the bronze-medallist at the 1998 world women’s championship in Kamloops, B.C., and a seven-time participant at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. “I’ve been wanting this title for a long time, like the rest of my team. Being to that many Canadian championships, you want to (win) at least one world championship, so it feels awesome.”

Armitage showed the same consistency and shotmaking that produced nine round-robin victories and another in the semifinal against Switzerland’s Werner Attinger earlier on Saturday.

Forcing

After forcing New Zealand to one in the second end, Armitage put together a deuce in the third end and stole one more in the fourth when Frauenlob — who like his three teammates was born in Canada — was heavy on his last-rock draw to the four-foot.

The game-breaker came in the sixth when Armitage made a perfect hit-and-roll with his first rock to set up a draw for three that was enough to send Canada to victory.

“I’ve chased this, I’ve chased this and I’ve chased this,” Armitage said of the world title. “There was a time when my knees were bad, and you get to be 47 or 48 and I was still chasing the men’s provincials because I thought, ‘I have to keep my game until I get to seniors.’

“I knew I could find the curlers, and I knew I had to have that game still in my pocket to get it done, and it was nice to see it work out. My team played really well.”

Switzerland won the bronze medal with a 7-2 win over Sweden’s Karl Nordlund.

King, meanwhile, couldn’t have asked for a better way to start her final. A series of Austrian misses led to King having a draw for six to open things.

“That was huge,” said King, who needed an extra end to beat Sweden’s Ingrid Meldahl in the semifinal earlier Saturday. “It sort of takes the nerves out of play and the girls were feeling good. They played well all week.

“Our only close game was this morning when Sweden took us down to the last inch. It was great to come out firing in this game.”

Sweden claimed the bronze medal with a 9-8 extra-end win over Scotland’s Christine Cannon.

— The Canadian Press