Bronze at best for Einarson

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This article was published 25/03/2023 (1147 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Kerri Einarson team could leave Sweden with a medal — but it won’t be the colour the Manitobans long to win.

Einarson’s Gimli crew will play for bronze once more.

Team Canada suffered an 8-5 loss to Norway’s Marianne Roervik in the 2023 World Women’s Curling Championship semi-finals on Saturday.

Einarson, third Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard and lead Briane Harris, the reigning four-time national champions, will face the host Swedes in Sunday’s battle for the bronze. Game time is 3 a.m. CT (TSN-TV).

It will be Einarson’s second consecutive bronze-medal matchup against Anna Hasselborg. Canada topped Sweden 8-7 for a podium finish in 2022 in Prince George, B.C.

“Obviously, this wasn’t what we wanted to be playing for this week and we really wanted to take that next step,” Einarson said. “We’ve been in this position before and still want to finish strong (Sunday) for Canada.”

Norway faces Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland, who upended Hasselborg 8-4 in the other semifinal.

Hasselborg won Olympic gold in 2018 but was denied in back-to-back world finals (2018, ‘19).

“It’s not enough,” said the clearly disappointed skip.

The Swiss are seeking their country’s fourth consecutive world crown. Amazingly, the Tirinzoni team, with Alina Paetz throwing last, is 13-0 at the event in Sandviken, Sweden, is on a 35-0 streak at the world championship.

Einarson’s undoing in the clash with Norway was a mishandled ninth end. Tied 5-5 and facing three after several team misses, Einarson’s attempt to hide a draw behind a wall of granite came up light.

Kristin Skaslien, who delivers the final stones for Norway, wasn’t able to slip another into the rings, however, a count of three was a damaging blow.

Norway ran Canada out of rocks in the 10th.

“It was a pretty unfortunate ninth end with too many back-to-back misses,” Einarson said. “We got ourselves in some trouble and I made a good one on my first, but she came up with a really good shot.”

Einarson had tucked her first rock into a good spot, although she left Skaslien with a tricky in-off takeout. And she made no mistake with a brilliant effort to erase the lone yellow counter.

“I think we needed to leave our first one a hair higher or go deeper,” Einarson said. “We were right in between and it was just top four (foot). We needed tee-line or better.”

The game had been a see-saw affair through eight ends.

Down 1-0 following the opening end, Canada responded with a two-point third end to take the lead. However, Norway swiftly responded with three in the following end to take a 4-2 edge.

Canada knotted the contest with a point in each of the next two ends before exchanging singles in the seventh and eighth.

“We played really well. We just have to be better on our execution,” said Einarson, who had defeated Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa 6-4 in an extra end earlier Saturday in a qualification game.

“We’re building and it feels good to be making some good shots and reading the ice better, we’ve just had one bad end.”

The Einarson team, with Krysten Karwacki as alternate and Reid Carruthers as coach, captured its fourth consecutive Scotties Tournament of Hearts title in Kamloops, B.C., in late February.

Their first opportunity to wear the Maple Leaf was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The following year, Einarson missed the podium inside the Calgary bubble but rebounded in 2022 to claim bronze.

— Staff/CP