On This Day in Olympic Curling History: Feb 22

VANCOUVER 2010:

USA’s John Shuster lost two games while France split their results with Denmark (win) and Norway (loss, video above).

In the women’s single session, Canada’s Cheryl Bernard defeated defending champions Sweden, skipped by Anette Norberg, by a 6-2 count. 

One sheet over, Great Britain’s Eve Murihead – making her Olympic debut – was edged 9-8 by Denmark’s Angelina Jensen.

The round robin at the raucous Vancouver Olympic Centre would end the following day.

Canadian women’s skip Jennifer Jones, who struggled to a 2-5 record at the Olympic Trials, was on the scene as a “celebrity reporter” working for Yahoo! Sports.

TORINO 2006

After a full day off, the semifinals roared at the Pinerolo Palaghiaccio. 

It was agony for Canada as Shannon Kleibrink’s Calgary foursome as they lost emphatically to an extremely effective Swiss squad skipped by 2002 Olympic silver medallist Mirjam Ott.

According to our correspondent in the arena, Kleibrink had been carrying Team Canada on her shoulders all week but she shot only 66% – to Ott’s well-earned 88% – as  she continued to face tough situations much of the time.

The other semi saw Sweden’s Anette Norberg defeat Norway’s Dordi Nordby by a close 5-4 count.

On the men’s side, Great Britain’s David Murdoch faced off against Finland and Markku Uusipaavalniemi, who had been indeed a blur on the ice as he and his mates loved to throw it hard. Today, however, Finland “mixed their gunfire with a calm, unflappable draw game… and covered the pin – almost nonchalantly – with his final shot for the 4-3 win. 

“It was a victory which no one would have ever predicted in the years, weeks and days leading up to now.”

In the other semi, resurgent Canada skipped by Russ Howard, and with Brad Gushue throwing last stones, dismantled Pete Fenson’s United States 11-5. 

After building leads of 4-2 and 6-3, USA crept to within one point before the Canadians dropped a five-point whopper in the ninth end.

“The Finns are for real; Canada is now for real, and the stage is set for a real showpiece.”

PYEONGCHANG 2018:

The round robin having drawn to a close, Canada’s Kevin Koe (6-3) drew USA’s John Shuster (5-4) in one semifinal matchup.

The battle was teed up in this on-site TCN blogpost from Glen Kennedy, third Marc Kennedy’s older brother.

Shuster defeated Koe days earlier, and hadn’t lost a game since then.

The other semi featured Switzerland’s Peter de Cruz (5-4) against front-running Niklas Edin of Sweden (7-2).

The Swiss team got the day rolling by defeating Great Britain’s Kyle Smith (5-4) in a morning tiebreaker 9-5. 

Smith held a 5-4 lead in the ninth end without hammer but surrendered a whopping five points.

As history shows, Edin beat de Cruz handily by a 9-3 scoreline, opening with a deuce and grabbing a huge four-ender in the fourth end for a 6-1 lead.

In the other semifinal, USA made it two in a row over the Canadians, winning 5-3 on the strength of the only deuce scored in the match, in the eighth end.

Years later, The Curling News senior columnist Kevin Palmer would publish a three-part series on Shuster’s 2018 Olympic “Miracurl” playoff run. Part One studied this semifinal victory.

With no tiebreakers to play, the women’s side enjoyed a full day off with the semifinals scheduled for the following day – Korea’s Kim Eun-jun (8-1) against Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa (5-4) while Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg (7-2) would take on Great Britain’s Eve Muirhead (6-3).