After tough start, Team Canada on a roll

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This article was published 05/05/2021 (1777 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After more than two months in Calgary’s curling bubble, Kerri Einarson’s team was bogged down in a 1-5 rut earlier this week.

But how the tables have turned.

The Gimli skip and her Manitoba teammates are on a roll — winners of four straight — and hoping to parlay that into a finish that will result in a world women’s championship.

“It’s a gruelling long week and we’ve been in the bubble for a very long time but I’m so thankful for my teammates and coach and Curling Canada and everyone that’s supporting us,” Einarson told reporters after Wednesday morning’s 10-4 victory over Estonia’s Marie Turmann. “…This is our family in here and we’re just supporting each other every way possible.”

Einarson, who only played once Wednesday, improved to 5-5 in round-robin play at WinSport’s Markin MacPhail Centre.

Her team, which includes third Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard and lead Briane Meilleur, struggled to get untracked over the first few days of competition. The reversal began with a win over South Korea, followed by victories over Italy, Scotland and Wednesday’s rout of Estonia.

Canada started the day in seventh place and moved up to sixth in the 14-team standings. A top-six finish is needed to reach the playoffs on the weekend.

“All of our games we lost, we didn’t play badly so we knew we weren’t far off,” said Einarson. “We just had to capitalize on our opportunities when we got them and that’s what we have been doing, just taking that extra second in the hack and really thinking.”

Estonia, 1-8 and last in the competition, is making its first appearance at the world championship but still made heavily favoured Canada work for the victory.

Einarson had hammer in the opening end and used it for a hit and stick to score a deuce. Turmann took a 3-2 lead in the fourth when Einarson gave up a steal of two after a missed takeout.

The Canadian skip settled for a single in the fifth end when she was light on a draw but regained the lead with a single in the sixth when Estonia missed a pick attempt.

Late-game mistakes snuffed Estonia’s chances of an upset. Turmann’s final stone in the seventh rolled out to give Canada a steal of two and a 6-3 lead.

Estonia was forced to a single in the eighth. Turmann was heavy with her last shot in the ninth and Einarson made her draw to score four points.

One more draw was scheduled for later Wednesday. Canada will play Denmark and Japan on Thursday before closing the round-robin schedule Friday against China.

The top two teams in the standings will earn byes to the semifinals. The four remaining teams will play qualification games Saturday morning with the winners to advance to the semifinals later in the day.

Medal games are scheduled for Sunday.

“I think we’re capable of winning it all if we get ourselves in a good position,” said Meilleur. “Like I said, we know how to win games; we just have to make those shots in a timely fashion and… just keep doing everything we know how to do and hopefully the breaks will come and we’ll get into the playoffs.”

Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones was the last Canadian representative to win at the worlds, earning gold in 2018 when the event was held at North Bay, Ont.

Einarson’s team was one of the pre-event favourites after winning a second straight national Scotties title in late February, which was also staged at Calgary’s WinSport Arena.

The competition also serves as the main qualifier for the 2022 Beijing Olympics. A top-six finish is required for a team to book its country a berth at the Games.

A last-chance qualifier for the remaining spots will be held in December.

Television and streaming coverage has been shut down until at least Thursday afternoon after seven positive COVID-19 cases were identified among event broadcast staff.

The World Curling Federation hopes to use an “adapted TV production setup” at some point this week but plans remain uncertain. Broadcast personnel aren’t housed in the same hotel as the teams.

The COVID-19 developments forced the postponement of Sunday morning’s draw, which has since been moved to Friday night.

— staff / The Canadian Press