UPDATE: Canada falls to second at curling worlds after loss to Swiss

March 17, 2015

Updated: Wednesday, March 18th 8:50 am

Jennifer Jones and her Manitoba rink lost by a sliver to Switzerland, falling by a score of 7-6 to drop to second in the overall rankings at World Women’s Curling Championship.

Jones played catch-up to Swiss skip Alina Pätz throughout the game, after Pätz managed to go up 2-0 with the hammer in the first end. Canada would score twice in two different ends, the third and the fifth, but Paetz’s consistency with final stone resulted in singles, most notably in ends four and nine.

With the score 7-5 for Switzerland and the final rock in hand, Canada encountered a crowded house with two of their rocks sandwiching a Swiss stone, just off the button. Canada would need to edge inside the sole Swiss rock and earn two for the tie. And they almost did by tapping their outside rock with Jones’ final curl. Out came the measure, but the nudge wasn’t enough and Canada only scored one in the 10th end, leading to the 7-6 Swiss final.

Jennifer Jones, Kaitlyn Lawes, Jill Officer, and Dawn McEwen are now 7-and-2 in the tournament while Switzerland rises to the top of the standings at 8-and-1. Both teams had beat Norway earlier Wednesday and are idle until Thursday morning in Japan when Canada will meet 4-and-5 Germany in draw 15. The Pätz rink will take on Eve Muirhead’s re-surging 6-and-3 Scottish side.

Each team has another game Thursday, and remember finishing in the top two after all eleven games is critical because it affords both leaders essentially two shots at making the gold medal game. China, Russia, and Scotland are all tied for third place right behind Canada with records of 6-and-3.

Tuesday

Tuesday was day four of nine and saw competition reach draw 11 of 17, after which all of the tiebreakers and play-offs begin. In draw 10, mid-afternoon Japanese time, Canada beat a beleaguered US team by a score of 10-2. It wasn’t as easy to get past Denmark later in the day, but Canada prevailed by a score of 8-7.

Canada's @TeamJJonesCurl had to work hard to pull out a win over Denmark tonight! Read about it right here: http://t.co/JYJZ9qvTYg #curling

— Curling Canada (@CurlingCanada) March 17, 2015

Despite the more challenging final game, Jones had her big picture perspective intact, “It’s always great to be getting near the end of the week but it’s always sad as well because it means the World Championship is coming to a close and we just love every second of wearing the Maple Leaf on our back,” said Jones on the Curling Canada website. “It’ll be a big game against Switzerland to stay up there with the leaders, so we’ll have to come out and play well in the morning against Norway and be tough at night.”

So, Canada and Switzerland are both 6-and-1, and they play Wednesday in draw 14 but not before a game with win-less Norway in draw 12.

The importance of ending up with one of the top two records is direct entry to the Play-off 1v2 game, which offers two chances to make the gold medal game, schedule is here.