Canada, Japan Take Pan Continental Curling Gold

Canada and Japan became the first men’s and women’s Pan Continental curling champions at Calgary’s WinSport Event Centre.

The new event featured teams from the World Curling Federation’s America and Pacific-Asia Zones. It now serves as the world championship qualification route for all world curling nations, apart from those in the European Zone, with the top five women’s and men’s teams qualifying.

Team Brad Gushue, the Beijing Olympic bronze medallists handpicked to represent Canada at the event, lost their first round-robin match to USA’s Korey Dropkin but then steamrolled to the title, thumping Japan in the semifinals and Korea in the championship final.

It was near-total domination for Gushue, Brad Nichols, new second player E.J. Harnden and Geoff Walker. In many of their matches, Canada led 2-0, 3-0 or even 5-0 within the first hour of play. Gushue repeatedly left his games with multiple ends left to play, and alternate Nathan Young was brought in.

The final was no different. Canada scored two in the first end and stole one in the second end for a 3-0 lead. After a Korean single, Canada grabbed four for a 7-1 lead. Another Korea miss left Canada with another steal—of three— for a 10-1 scoreline.

The eighth end was played out with novelty shots entertaining the crowd.

“I think we played well all week,” understated Gushue.

“Things didn’t quite work out,” offered Korea skip Jeong Byeongjin, who was supported by Lee Jeongjae, Kim Minwoo and Kim Taehwan.

Meanwhile, Japan defeated Korea in an all-Asian women’s final.

Japan skip Satsuki Fujisawa opened the scoring with two points, then swapped singles with Korea’s Ha Seungyoun. Fujisawa then stole points to move ahead 6-3, but dropped a deuce in the ninth end and then a 10th-end steal for an extra-end.

Japan’s winning stone was made for an 8-6 final score

“I’m super happy!” said a delighted Fujisawa. Her Olympic silver medallist team is made up of Chinami Yoshida, Yumi Suzuki and Yurika Yoshida.

Korea’s Seungyoun was gracious in defeat, saying, “We had a little trouble at the beginning and middle of the game. We tried our best in the latter half but just came up a little short. We’re still a very young team and we’re going to grow, but I’m still very proud to be a silver medallist.”

Canada’s Kerri Einarson defeated Tabitha Peterson of the United States 7-5, to claim the women’s Pan Continental bronze medals. The men’s bronze went to Korey Dropkin’s U.S. outfit, 8-7 winners over Japan’s Riku Yanagisawa.

New Zealand proved to be huge winners in the A-division. Both their men’s and women’s teams finished in the top five to book their nation’s berths in the world championships—the women for the first time ever, while the men will return to the worlds for the first time since 2012.

Athletes were asked for their impressions of the new championship.

“We love it,” said New Zealand men’s skip Anton Hood. “The opportunity to play the U.S. and Canada is a highlight, really. Like (the) game against Gushue was probably my most favourite game I’ve ever played in my life.

“There’s not as much camaraderie as at the Pacific Asia, but curling-wise, it’s a lot better. We like it and we hope it stays around.”

“I think it’s the future,” said Australia skip Jay Merchant. “This region has some of the strongest competitors in the business and you’re seeing it here. It beats the Pacific-Asia hands-down, I don’t ever want to go back.

“We’re playing teams that we haven’t played before, so it’s all good and I’m looking forward to getting back next year.”

“This competition was amazing,” said Brazil women’s skip Isis Oliveira. “It was a huge learning for us, from the first day here to the last day, the team improved a lot, watching other players and learning ourselves.

“Next year when we’re back, we’re coming back to win.”