Canada can’t keep up with Scots at world mixed curling championship

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This article was published 20/05/2021 (1832 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canada’s Kerri Einarson and Brad Gushue were playing catch-up for most of their crucial round-robin matchup with red-hot Scotland at the world mixed curling championship in Aberdeen Thursday.

It was a battle they couldn’t win.

Down 4-0 after two ends, Einarson, a 33-year-old from Camp Morton, and the 40-year-old Gushue, who hails from St. John’s, N.L., could not find their way all the way back, eventually dropping an 8-5 decision to Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat. 

Scotland quelled any hopes of a Canadian comeback in the seventh end. Canada was unable to pull off a multi-point end and gave up a steal of one after missing a delicate peel for a chance to score two. The Scots secured the victory by running Canada out of rocks in the eighth and final end.

The victory improved Scotland’s record 6-1 and undisputed hold of first place in Group A. 

Holding the head-to-head tiebreaker over Canada, Dodds and Mouat now have a clear path to a semifinal bye in the playoffs. Dodds plays second on Eve Muirhead’s women’s champs while Mouat skipped his team to a silver medal at the recent men’s worlds in Calgary.

Earlier in the day, Canada edged Italy 6-4 after trailing 3-1 after four ends and sits tied with the Italians for second place in Pool A at 5-2. Einarson and Gushue, however, have a tiebreaker edge on Italians.

“There are no easy games here,” Einarson told reporters after beating Italy. “They are making shots and putting pressure on us. We’re having to do the same thing, and we’ve been doing that. They were just so close here — they were perfect through the first four ends, so we just kept up the process and put the pressure on them.

“We’re feeling really good. I’ve got my draw weight, and I’m feeling really confident out there and with the judging as well. This is all an adjustment — I don’t do it very often, but my body is holding up all right.”

Three teams with the best round-robin records in each of the two pools qualify for the weekend playoffs. 

Furthermore, the seven teams with the best overall records earn spots for their countries in the mixed doubles event at the 2022 Olympics.

Canada puts the wraps on round-robin play Friday starting with Zuzana Paulova and Tomas Paul of the Czech Republic (4-3) at 6:30 a.m. followed by the Russian Curling Federation’s Anastasia Moskaleva and Aleksandr Eremin (4-3) at 1:30 p.m.

Both games will be shown live on TSN.

Qualification games and semifinals are scheduled for Saturday with the bronze- and gold-medal matches on tap for Sunday.

Canada is one of 20 teams entered in the competition.

Gushue and Einarson are trying to become the first Canadian team to win gold in the event’s 13-year history. Canada has reached the podium (two silver, one bronze) at the last three editions of the event.

Kaitlyn Lawes of Winnipeg and John Morris of Canmore, Alta., joined forces to win gold for Canada in the debut for mixed doubles at the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang.

— staff / The Canadian Press