It was a struggle to score points early but Canada’s Kerri Einarson found a way to win when it mattered.
Her Manitoba-based rink out of the Gimli Curling Club came from behind to double Denmark 8-4 this afternoon
(Monday) at the world women’s curling championship in Prince George.
Canada improved to 3-2, winning all of its games in the afternoon draw (Denmark, Turkey, and Italy).
Both losses have come in the evening against Switzerland (4-0) and Norway (2-2).
The Danes dropped to 2-2.
Points were at a premium right from the beginning as Einarson settled for a single after missing a chance for a deuce with her final stone in the first end.
After a scoreless second, Danish skip Madeleine Dupont was forced to take a single of her own, tying the score at 1-1 after three.
Vice-skip Val Sweeting caught fire for the host nation with back-to-back solid hits, setting the table for another single by Einarson in the fourth.
“That’s all you can do is learn from last night (Sunday). We had a couple of opportunities that we missed early but we kept setting it up and we were on fire today.”
However, before the fifth-end break, Dupont reclaimed the lead for the Danish side delivering a hit for two.
Undeterred and calm under pressure, Einarson was dead-accurate on her final shot in the sixth, giving the host nation three points and a 5-3 lead.
Canada put the game away with a steal of two in seventh following a Dupont miss.
Denmark took one in the eighth and Canada got one in the ninth to end the game.
“We had a couple of fortunate shots early and we were up there until then and those big ends were just unfortunate,” said Mathilde Halse, Denmark third.
Halse was the Danes’ top player at 83%.
Canadian second Shannon Birchard curled an impeccable 97% outperforming Denmark’s second Denise Dupont who was at 78%.
Sweeting had a great game at 94%.
Canadian lead Briane Meilleur was 88% while Einarson was just 64%, including 38% on draws, however, she played much better after the fifth-end break.
“Honestly, it was all about making your shots. Last night wasn’t quite as lopsided as it looked and you have to trust the process as hard as that is at times but it was all about being patient and figuring it out. We trusted that we were really close and we got the results, said Sweeting.”
Val Sweeting of @EinarsonTeam talks about an 8-4 win against Denmark at the World Women’s Curling Championship @CNCentre in @CityofPG #WWCC2022 #curling #princegeorge #northernbc pic.twitter.com/XLd4nFEWKN
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) March 21, 2022
In other afternoon action, Korea improved to 4-0 by dominating the United States 11-4.
Defending champion Switzerland went to 4-0 as Silvana Tirinizoni and her Zurich-based team eased to an 8-3 victory over Turkey while Germany got its first victory 6-4 over the Czech Republic.
The Canadians are back in action Tuesday afternoon at 2:00 against unbeaten Japan.
Canada has other round-robin games Wednesday morning at 9:00 plus Thursday, and Friday at 9:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.
The evening draw tonight at 7:00 has the following matchups:
Switzerland vs. Italy
USA vs. Norway
Germany vs. Japan
Sweden automatically goes to 4-1 tonight after a forfeit victory against Scotland after they pulled out of the tournament due to a rash of COVID-19 cases on the team.
The top six teams make the playoffs.
Qualification games go on Saturday at 1:00 in the afternoon with the semi-finals Saturday night at 7:00.
Medal games hit the ice 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