Jones rink drops first to nemesis Sweden

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This article was published 25/03/2009 (6350 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

GANGNEUNG, South Korea — It doesn’t matter where Anette Norberg and her Swedish team are at in life or in their curling careers, it’s just a hard-and-fast rule that she saves her very best for Canada.

Another example of that was provided Tuesday at the Gangneung International Ice Rink.

Just hours after being thrashed 10-1 by a three-player Germany team skipped by Andrea Schoepp, Norberg’s Swedes played their finest game of the Mount Titlis world women’s curling championship and were rewarded with a 7-4 victory over Team Canada’s previously unbeaten Jennifer Jones.

Since winning the 2006 Olympic and world championships, Norberg had fallen off form, failing to even qualify for the world championship last year, and this year coming to South Korea without her regular lead, Anna Svard, who’s pregnant and being replaced by Margaret Sigfridsson.

Jones undoubtedly would love to have back the draw for one she threw in the eighth end that was heavy and resulted in a stolen deuce for Sweden.

And it’s fair to say that Norberg was scored excessively generously at 93 per cent despite nose-hitting on two blank attempts and overcurling on a freeze attempt that set up Jones’s draw for two in the second end.

But still, Norberg made the shots when she needed them (a deuce-killing double takeout in the ninth, for example), as the two-time world champ typically does against Canada.

"Yes, that might be true," Norberg agreed. "But it’s not just about playing Canada. It’s easier to play against teams who play the game you want to play yourself. It’s much harder for us to play against teams who don’t take a lot of risks."

That’s not an issue with Jones, and she nearly always has the draw weight to bail out of risky situations, but it failed her when she needed it in the eighth end against Sweden.

"It kind of ticked me off tonight, but we’ll carry on," Jones vowed. "We just weren’t sharp as a team. It’s the first draw I’ve really missed all week, so I just kind of have to throw it away and hopefully we’ll come out sharper (today)."

Earlier Tuesday (late Monday in Canada), Canada went the distance to beat the short-handed Germans 8-7. Schoepp’s longtime vice-skip Monika Wagner sat out because she was ill, and the Germans didn’t bring a fifth player because the player they’d hoped to use in that position, Martina Tichatschke, is believed to be just the third curler ever suspended for a doping violation.

Canada started Day 5 of play today with a 7-6 victory over South Korea in 10 ends, giving the Jones team a 7-1 won-lost record after Draw 12, tied for top spot with Bingyu Wang of China. On the docket this afternoon for Canada is a showdown with Denmark, at 6-1 in the tournament standings.

 

— Canwest News Service

 

Standings

(After Draw 11)

W L

Canada (Jones) 6 1

China (Wang) 6 1

Denmark (Jensen) 6 1

Sweden (Norberg) 5 2

Scotland (Muirhead) 4 3

Switzerland (Ott) 4 3

Germany (Schopp) 3 4

U.S. (McCormick) 3 4

South Korea (Kim) 2 5

Russia (Privivkova) 2 5

Italy (Gaspari) 1 6

Norway (Rorvik) 0 7

 

TUESDAY RESULTS

Canada 8 Germany 7

Sweden 7 Canada 4

 

WEDNESDAY GAMES

South Korea vs. Canada (late)

Canada vs. Denmark (1 a.m. CT)