Eight Ends is your daily one-stop shop for all things curling with news, notes, insight and analysis through the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.
First End: Canada’s Brad Gushue pulled off a 10-8 victory over China but his team’s luck ran out against ROC, losing 7-6 in an extra end Tuesday. Gushue’s split day kept his team in sole possession of third place in the men’s curling tournament at the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, with a 5-3 record. Canada will need to shake off the loss to ROC with the penultimate men’s draw off and one round-robin game remaining against medal contender Great Britain (Wednesday 8:05 p.m. ET).
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Second End: Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Canada did not start with the hammer against either China or ROC. Gushue is now 2-for-8 in draw-shot challenges, only slightly better than Canadian women’s team Jennifer Jones (1-for-6), but nothing to brag about. The silver lining for Gushue is his crew is still ranked sixth overall among the 10 men’s teams — despite not winning hammer, they’re not that far off from the competition — and they’re in better standing overall compared to the United States (eighth) and ROC (ninth) should those teams factor in tiebreaker scenarios. Simple solution: Just beat Great Britain and don’t worry about any tiebreakers. Easy as pie, right?
Third End: Canada caught a couple of lucky breaks against China when Xiuyue Ma missed a slash double in the fourth and messed up his last shot in the sixth to hand Gushue deuces out of nowhere. Gushue had the pressure on in the eighth end, Ma stuffed a runback and Canada was able to score a key three points. The biggest percentage difference was at the skip position, where Gushue shot 90 per cent overall (including 100 per cent on his eight draws) while Ma finished at 69 per cent.
Fourth End: Sergei Glukhov might want to borrow pro wrestler Nikita Koloff’s old nickname as ROC was the “Russian Nightmare” for Gushue. Canada looked to be in a heap of trouble early, with ROC having the opportunity to score four off the bat. Oh me nerves, indeed. Glukhov was heavy on his first, however, allowing Gushue to freeze out a bunch, and the ROC skip was heavy on his last as well that turned a huge score into a steal after a measurement.
That should have been a wake-up call, but neither team was completely sharp until the final few ends, when Glukhov in particular found his footing. An amazing angle raise for two points in the ninth gave ROC a 6-4 lead. Gushue pulled off a runback double to sit three in the 10th, but Glukhov pulled off a near buzzer-beater to avoid the guards and double out a pair. An in-turn draw scored a deuce for Gushue and tied it up 6-6 to force the extra end. Glukhov needed to draw for the win in OT and landed right on the button to complete the upset.
Fifth End: Canada isn’t going to be as lucky against Great Britain, who is first among all teams in shooting, at 87.1 per cent. Fortunately, Canada is right behind in second, at 85.7 per cent. Skip Bruce Mouat is also first among skips at 89.1 per cent, with Gushue a distant second at 84.3 per cent. After three consecutive games in the 90s, Gushue looked human against ROC, shooting 75 per cent, and third Mark Nichols had his worst game of the week, at 67 per cent. The longtime friends and 2006 Olympic gold medallists know the winning formula and just have to make more shots.
Sixth End: Looking at the rest of the men’s standings, Sweden’s Niklas Edin is clear through into the playoffs with a 7-1 record, the only loss coming to Great Britain. Speaking of GBR, Mouat’s crew clinched a spot in the semifinals with that 7-6 victory over Sweden and sits in second place, at 6-1. Canada (5-3) is in third, followed by a tie for fourth place between the United States and ROC (both at 4-4). Switzerland (3-4) is also still in the mix, and technically so are China (3-5), Norway (3-5) and even Italy (2-5), with only Denmark (1-6) eliminated. That should sort itself out a bit after Wednesday’s draw (1:05 a.m. ET). Gushue will be idle and can only wait and see.
Seventh End: The Canadian women’s curling team, skipped by Jennifer Jones, had a bye for the lone women’s draw Tuesday, which gave them a full day off. It’s probably not the bye they would have booked, as coming off back-to-back wins, they may have preferred to keep the momentum going rather than freeze out. Jones, who captured Olympic gold in 2014, holds a 3-3 record, tied for fifth place with South Korea, and three round-robin games remaining against the United States (Tuesday 8:05 p.m. ET), China (Wednesday 7:05 a.m. ET) and Denmark (Wednesday 8:05 p.m. ET). Fate is very much still in their hands at this point.
Eighth End: No teams have qualified for the semifinals in the women’s division yet, although two-time reigning world champion Switzerland leads the way, at 6-1. Defending Olympic gold medallist Sweden (5-2) sits second and we still haven’t seen Anna Hasselborg’s final form. Great Britain, Japan and the U.S. are locked in a three-way tie for third, each at 4-3, with Canada and South Korea both right behind. China and Denmark have 2-5 records but on the outside looking in with only ROC (1-6) ousted from the medal round. Canada’s wins over Great Britain and South Korea are crucial, plus a win over the U.S. will do wonders for their chances on head-to-head records if there’s still a logjam.
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