Bronze Games “Getting Old” for Einarson

KELOWNA—It was a game of inches for Kerri Einarson and Team Canada as they fell 8-4 to Korea’s Eunji Gim in women’s semifinal action at the 2023 Pan Continental Curling Championships.

On the men’s side, Brad Gushue’s men’s foursome (6-1 in the round robin) completed a strong run of victories and will face Andrew Stopera’s USA foursome (4-3) in the men’s semis hosted at the Kelowna Curling Club.

Einarson’s four-time defending Canadian championship squad finished the round robin with a jaw-dropping 17-1 blowout victory over Mexico, but the skip struggled to find her A-game in the semi. The skip from Gimli, Man. missed two key shots that cost her team a chance at gold; a runback hit and stick in the fourth end that missed by a hair, and a wide-open draw in the ninth that went right through the house.

“Yeah, even in the fourth end I thought I had the run made and I really didn’t think we could hurt ourselves, but that’s the way our luck’s been going this week. Off by like an inch and it hurts us,” said a frustrated Einarson after the game.

Heading into their rematch with Korea (6-1), Canada (4-3) was looking for revenge as the two teams shared an exciting round robin matchup that resulted in a 9-8 Korean win on last stone.

Team Gim kept things simple in the first end, playing mostly takeouts that would eventually lead to a blank end and Korea carrying the hammer over into the next frame.

Korea managed to keep their opponents at bay early in the semi-final. In fact, the Canadian women wouldn’t get on the scoreboard until the fifth end, but even then, Canada had to settle for a single point.

Einarson had an open hit to score two and get her team back in the game. Unable to bump her opponent on the nose to end the fifth, Einarson rolled out and was forced to settle for one.

Gim told The Curling News staying on an even keel was important in winning the playoff matchup.

“We tried to keep our temper, we tried to calm ourselves down and not get overly excited,” said the 2014 Olympian. “We keep our posture down, we keep our mental focus, and I think that’s why we eventually got the win.”

The score was 4-1 for Korea heading into the second half of the game.

The two squads would trade scores in the next two ends, with both Einarson and Gim capitalizing on each other’s mistakes. Einarson would go on to miss her final freeze attempt in the sixth, giving Gim just enough space to properly make a tap back for two.

Now down by three and struggling to make the hammer count, Einarson would answer back with a big statement in the seventh, pouncing on a final stone rollout by Korea and following it up with an open hit score three and tie the game at four apiece.

It felt like a turning point for Canada, and a moment that helped give the team a boost of morale. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t last long.

Korea would answer back by scoring their deuce in eight before doubling down with a steal of two more points in the ninth. Einarson needed full eight-foot to take a 5-4 lead, but ran her draw right through the house.

The game would end in handshakes halfway through the final end as Korea simply ran Canada out of rocks.

“My draw in nine, the girls liked it,” said Einarson. “We were close, I threw a 14.5 and I did not think it was backline weight and we could have easily got a rub, but yeah, that’s just how it goes.

“Just on the wrong side of the inch on basically everything, and that’s been the story the whole week.”

Canada will now battle for a third-place finish and a bronze medal against Tabitha Peterson’s United States outfit at 2:00 p.m. on Friday.

Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa, who won this inaugural tournament a year ago, will face the Koreans in the championship final on Saturday. Japan stole two points in the extra end of their semifinal for a wild 10-8 victory.

“It’s getting old,” said Einarson, who won bronze a year ago in Calgary and has won bronze at the last two world championships. “I love playing for a medal, but it’s tough when you just can’t get over the hurdle.”

The other men’s semifinal will feature Japan’s Riku Yanagisawa (6-1) against Korea’s Jongduk Park (5-2).