Canada Vaults to 4-2 at PanCon Curling

With files from Curling Canada

A perfect three-win Monday saw Canada jump back into the upper standings at the Pan Continental Curling Championships in Kelowna, B.C.

The St. John’s, N.L. foursome skipped by Brad Gushue played their finest game of the event on Monday night, putting together a thrilling 7-5 extra-end win over previously unbeaten Andrew Stopera of the United States.

Earlier on Monday, Team Gushue upended Anton Hood of New Zealand by a 8-2 count for their first win following an opening loss to Korea.

Meanwhile, Kerri Einarson’s Gimli, Man. outfit scored a win in their only match of the day, an 8-5 victory over Australia’s Jennifer Westhagen.

The Canadian women have climbed to 2-1, the same won/loss record as the men.

Einarson’s squad split their opening pair of matches, which included a game two loss to Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa.

“I play good with a lack of sleep,” Einarson joked. “As a skip, you revisit all those shots throughout the night. You have to put that aside and really focus on learning the ice and figuring out our throws. (Monday), we got our rocks in some really good spots and put some pressure on them.”

As the game progressed, Einarson and teammates Val Sweeting, Shannon Birchard and Briane Harris overcame a simplified opponent game plan. The Aussies worked an early 3-1 lead after three ends but in the fourth, Einarson made a double takeout to crack a three-ender.

“She’s really good at those upweight shots,” Harris said of her skip. “Whenever she gets to play one of those, you can see it in her eyes that she’s dialled-in, and she usually makes them.”

Team Einarson ended the game with a score of two in the eighth, followed by a steal of one in the ninth to defeat the Australian nation, which is seeking its first-ever appearance at the women’s world curling championship next March.

In other women’s action this afternoon, New Zealand’s Jessica Smith bested Cynthia Lu of Chinese Taipei (0-3) by a score of 11-7; Japan’s (3-0) remained undefeated after a 9-1 win against Mexico’s Adriana Camarena (1-2); and Tabitha Peterson of the United States needed an extra end to defeat South Korea’s Eunji Gim (2-1) by a score of 9-8.

In Monday night action, the Canadian men set the tone early—eight perfect shots in the first end, capped by Gushue needing only to touch paint with his last stone to score two and take a lead the Canucks would never surrender.

Canada had the U.S. in chase mode for much of the first five ends, and it produced a steal in the third for Canada to go up 3-0, and then Korey Dropkin, who throws fourth for the U.S., needed to draw the button in the fourth end just to avoid giving up three.

Dropkin made the shot of the game in the seventh end with a stunning triple-takeout that snuffed out a big Canadian end; Gushue needed to peel out a U.S. counter to get the blank and carry the hammer into the eighth.

The U.S. carried that momentum by stealing the game-tying point, and then forced Canada to a single in the ninth.

But in the 10th frame, Canada was able to hold the U.S. to one, and only after a wonderful angle raise from Dropkin on his last throw.

In the extra-end, double-peels by second E.J. Harnden and third Mark Nichols effectively ended the U.S. steal hopes, and Gushue—with Geoff Walker playing lead—made an open hit to score the game-winning deuce.

“We hung in there,” said Gushue. “We scrapped through nine and then played a great 10th end to force them, and a pretty good 11th end. We had a couple bad ones, but we had a couple good ones to make up for it.”

The Canadian men will have the morning off before returning to the ice Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. Pacific time against Japan’s Team Riku Yanagisawa (3-0).

“I think it’s just about getting more comfortable here, more comfortable on the ice—I think all of that is a factor,” said Gushue. “It’s not so much about the win, but more about how you do it and how you’re playing. I really want us to play a game where we throw 80 rocks that we give every shot a chance to be made. We’re not quite there yet. If we get there, I’ll be really happy and I’ll like where we’re at.”

In other games Monday night, the Japanese remained unbeaten with an 11-6 victory over Australia’s Jay Merchant (0-3); New Zealand (2-1) was an 11-1 victor over Guyana’s Rayad Hussein (0-3); and South Korea’s Jongduk Park turned back Chinese Taipei’s Randy Shen (0-3) by a 9-6 count.

Tuesday’s women’s draws see Canada take on New Zealand (1-2) at 9:00 a.m., followed by the United States (3-0) at 7:00 p.m.