Eight Ends: Canada's mixed doubles medal hopes dashed by mere millimetres

Canada’s Rachel Homan and John Morris congratulate each other after defeating the Czech Republic in preliminary round mixed curling against Czech Republic Sunday, February 6, 2022 at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. (Ryan Remiorz/CP)

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: They say curling is a game of inches but we need to make a metric adjustment as this time it was a game of millimeters. Of course, we've seen measurements before but not often does it come that close nor with the high stakes of determining if a team advances to the medal round of the Winter Olympic Games or not.

Canada’s Rachel Homan and John Morris held the hammer in an extra end against Italy's Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner during Monday morning's round-robin finale and needed to draw to the button to win and, more importantly, secure a spot in the semifinals. Homan’s shooter slid a sliver too deep and an official awarded the winning point to Italy after the needle on the measuring stick moved just a shade farther. Italy's 8-7 victory eliminated Canada from medal contention in a heartbreaking fashion.

Second End: Constantini and Mosaner have been a tour de force all week finishing round-robin play undefeated at 8-0. The 22-year-old Constantini finished first among all female players shooting 79.7 per cent throughout the week including a sharp 85 per cent against Canada. Mosaner, who was fourth among male players at 79.3 per cent, stepped it up with his best percentage of the week shooting a game-high 87 per cent.

Morris (81.8 per cent) finished one spot ahead of Mosaner in third and Homan (72.0 per cent) was seventh among female players. Both needed to bring their A-triple-plus games and up their numbers in order to edge Italy. However, Morris (82 per cent) and Homan (72 per cent) were right on their averages in the finale. Homan had to attempt some trickier shots and mixed doubles curling requires such precision plus with only one sweeper any miss can shift the momentum in a flash. (Literally, a flashed stone through the house can lead to a big score.)

Stefania Constantini, left, of Italy, celebrates a win with teammate Amos Mosaner, right, during the mixed doubles curling match against Canada at the Beijing Winter Olympics Monday, Feb. 7, 2022, in Beijing. (Brynn Anderson/AP)

Third End: Canada controlled its own destiny — as opposed to Sweden, who were idle after wrapping up a draw early — but Homan and Morris had to win to get in because there’s no tiebreaker stage. How teams perform head-to-head is the first tiebreaker followed by average draw-to-the-button shootout totals. Sweden and Canada were tied in fourth place with 5-4 records and Sweden got through thanks to their 6-2 win over Canada earlier in the tournament.

Fourth End: You might be wondering how Great Britain and Norway, the 2018 Olympic bronze medallists, had already clinched playoffs spots regardless if they won or lost their last games.

If both had also lost their final games, Great Britain would have qualified based on head-to-head records while a three-way tie with Norway, Sweden and Canada would have resulted in the same outcome we saw. With those head-to-head records all tied at 1-1, average draw-to-the-button shootout totals would have come into play and Canada’s tally wasn’t pretty, to the point where even if Homan or Morris had pinned it in their last game it wouldn’t have mattered.

Canada finished 10th out of 10 teams in shootout scores and won the draw-to-the-button shootout just twice during the week — oddly enough losing both of those games.

Fifth End: Canada was also playing danger close during the home stretch of the round robin with their final three games all requiring OT. Homan and Morris managed to steal a 7-5 victory from the Czech Republic and had to rally from down 7-0 at the fourth-end break against Australia but couldn’t complete the feat and fell 10-8 in a shocker.

Sixth End: Let’s take a step back and look at how surreal the last two sessions were. Australia’s upset over Canada forced Homan and Morris into a tough must-win situation against undefeated Italy. Just re-reading that sentence is mind-blowing.

Take it another step farther and Canada was about to win that game against Australia via forfeit when Tahli Gill tested positive for COVID-19. Gill was reinstated just prior to Australia’s penultimate game against Switzerland. Gill and Dean Hewitt made history scoring Australia’s first-ever win in curling at the Olympics by defeating the Swiss 9-6 and the students then topped their master Morris with the aforementioned upset.

It’s crazy to think how things would have unfolded if Gill hadn’t been allowed to return to action as Canada would have picked up a default win and qualified for the playoffs with a 6-3 record.

Seventh End: Yes, there were problems over the course of Canada's selection process for mixed doubles, but picking Homan and Morris wasn't one of them. It was a unique chain of events that led to their selection after Canada’s mixed doubles trials, scheduled to run over New Year’s, were cancelled almost at the last minute due to COVID-19. Curling Canada, in consultation with Own The Podium and the Canadian Olympic Committee, had to make a difficult decision and pick who they believed would have the best chance at succeeding on the Olympic stage with the Winter Games only a few weeks away.

There’s no questioning their resumes. Morris had already won gold in the event before when mixed doubles made its debut four years ago in Pyeongchang. He also captured Olympic gold in the men’s game, played in the world men’s curling championship three times earning a medal of every colour, and has won 11 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling men’s titles. Meanwhile, Homan skipped the Canadian Olympic women’s team in 2018, has also earned three medals at the worlds and holds a record 11 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling women’s titles.

Morris and Homan, who both grew up in Ottawa, have been friends since childhood and have been mixed doubles teammates for a number of years. They checked off a lot of boxes that appealed to the powers that be and made them a confident choice to do well.

Curling Canada does not allow curlers to play in both mixed doubles and the team events at the Winter Olympics Games. That ruled out a number of curlers including Kaitlyn Lawes, who captured gold with Morris in 2018.

Hindsight is 20/20 after all and who’s to say another team would have done better or even come within a millimetre of making the medal round?

Eighth End: Yes, medals are what you aim for but as we saw four years ago in Pyeongchang, when Canada missed the podium in men’s and women’s curling, it’s not a guarantee anymore that Canada can waltz into the Olympics and return home with a haul anymore.

Scotland’s Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds plus Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson and Almida de Val knew before the season even started that they would be heading to Beijing for mixed doubles. They could build their seasons planning to peak at the Olympics. Meanwhile, Morris and Homan were selected less than a month ago. They were able to bunker down at Morris’ home in Canmore, Alta., but they essentially had to run through a crash course in order to prepare while isolating themselves from their families.

Extra End: The mixed doubles tournament continues with the semifinals (7:05 a.m. ET) featuring Italy vs. Sweden and Great Britain vs. Norway. Both medal games go down Tuesday with the bronze match on deck first (1:05 a.m. ET) followed by the gold medal game (7:05 a.m. ET).

It’s hard to bet against Italy given they ran through round-robin table undefeated. Although Norway finished first overall in the stats at 82.3 per cent, Great Britain won their round-robin encounter 6-2 and are the reigning world champions.

Podium prediction:
• Gold: Italy
• Silver: Great Britain
• Bronze: Sweden

Italy entered the tournament with +1500 odds to capture gold. Does anyone have a DeLorean I can borrow?

While those medal games might not look good for Canadian fans, they will serve as a wake-up call for where the country stands in the sport on the world stage and continue to help the international growth of the game.

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