Lawes, Morris clinch playoff berth at Olympics

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This article was published 10/02/2018 (2771 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

GANGNEUNG — Winnipeg’s Kaitlyn Lawes has clinched a playoff spot here at the inaugural mixed doubles curling event at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Lawes, playing mixed doubles for Canada with John Morris, clinched a berth in Monday’s semifinals with an 8-2 win over the team known as Olympic Athletes from Russia Saturday evening Korea Time..

The win, coupled with a 7-2 Canada win earlier Saturday over Switzerland, has Lawes and Morris alone in first place with a 5-1 round-robin record heading into the final round-robin draw on Sunday.

Canada plays South Korea (2-4) in their final game Sunday morning. A win over Korea would clinch first place for Canada and give Lawes and Morris the advantage of hammer throughout the playoffs.

Norway, Switzerland and the Athletes from Russia are all tied for second at 4-2. China is the only other team still in playoff contention at 3-3.

The top four teams make the playoffs here, with the first place team playing the fourth place team in one-semifinal and the second place team playing the third place team in the other semifinal.

A win in Monday’s semifinal would advance Lawes and Morris to Tuesday’s gold medal final and guarantee they would leave here with at least a silver medal.

Should they lose the semifinal, they would still get a chance to pick up some hardware in the bronze medal game, also scheduled for Tuesday.

Put it all together and Lawes and Morris appear to be peaking at exactly the right time.

“I think that was our best team game,” Morris said afterward. “Kaitlyn made some real beauties…We’re building some real good momentum.”

Lawes said she’s trying to stay in the moment and not make the mistake of getting ahead of things now that her team has achieved their first goal of making the playoffs.

“I’m really proud of us for having two days now with back-to-back wins. To be able to have our sights set on playoffs is a really good feeling. But we’re still trying to stay in the present.”

After losing their opening game here last Thursday to Norway, Lawes and Morris have now rattled off five consecutive victories and are doing their best curling right now heading into the playoffs.

They’re not only winning, they’re blowing teams out, forcing their opponents to concede early in their last four games in a row — three times after just six ends.

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Canada coach Jeff Stoughton said Lawes and Morris appear to have found their A-game just as playoffs now loom.

“They’ve been going the right way,” said Stoughton. “Goal one is achieved and that’s getting to the playoffs. That’s all you can ask for. And then it’s a sudden-death semi.”

Canada jumped all over the Athletes from Russia early, cracking a three ender in the first end and then adding a steal in the second end to take a 4-0 stranglehold. They were in complete control the rest of the way as Lawes shot 86 percent, while Morris was even better at 90 percent.

email: paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek