Canada now knows its place in the world women’s curling championship playoffs, sitting three wins away from a gold medal.
The Canadian team, skipped by Kerri Einarson of Manitoba, built up a 7-3 lead after six ends and then coasted to a 9-6 victory over the Czech Republic Friday night in the final game of the round robin. It was played before 2,131 fans, the biggest crowd of the week at CN Centre.
It was a strong showing for the Canadians, with three of their players curling over 90 %, led by Third Val Sweeting throwing 99%. The line score and game stats can be found right here.
It was the second win of the day for Canada who posted a 9-3 record. On Friday morning they beat Germany 8-5.
.@KEinarson of @EinarsonTeam chats with the media post game after 9-6 victory over Czech Republic @worldcurling @CurlingCanada #WWCC2022 #curling #CityOfPG #princegeorge #northernbc pic.twitter.com/cJVOwaMSqM
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) March 26, 2022
In other evening games, defending champion Switzerland improved to a perfect 12-0, scoring one in the 10th for a 7-6 triumph over Germany.
The United States beat Denmark 9-5 in a game that determined 5th and 6th.
South Korea got a key victory, 10-2 over Turkey to earn a bye into the semi-finals.
The players on the (2-10) Turkey team received a thunderous ovation from P.G. fans as they left the ice for the final time.
South Korea, Canada and Sweden ended up in a three-way tie for second at 9-3.
The first tiebreaker is head-to-head results but each team went 1-1.
Canada beat Sweden, Sweden beat South Korea, and South Korea beat Canada.
The second tiebreaker is a draw to the button which was won by South Korea, barely over Canada (37.42cm compared to 37.69cm).
“We had a decent draw of the button, Shannon’s [Birchard] didn’t get quite get to the button, and mine just came up a little too short,” said Einarson.
“It is what it is, and we like playing extra games.”
In the qualification games at 1:00 this afternoon, #3 Canada will play #6 Denmark while #4 Sweden will take on #5 USA.
“We’ve played them (Denmark) a few times and they’re a great team,” Einarson said.
“We’re feeling pretty confident going in and we’re going to take it one shot at a time.”
The Canada-Denmark winner will play #2 South Korea while the Sweden-USA winner will face #1 Switzerland in the semi-finals tonight at 7.
Medal games to wrap up the nine-day championship go on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. (for bronze) and 4:00 p.m. (for gold).
The full standings can be found here.
The full schedule and results are right here.
– with files from Hartley Miller