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Canada among winners on opening day of curling
Source: Agencies |
February 17, 2010, Wednesday
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DEFENDING champion Canada worked overtime as it opened its Olympic men's curling tournament yesterday with a 7-6 win over Norway, then cruised to a 9-4 defeat of Germany to thrill a cowbell-clanging, foot-stomping crowd that sounded like it came from a hockey arena.
Skip Kevin Martin secured victory with the last stone in the extra end after Canada had squandered an early 5-1 lead, sending the capacity crowd into a frenzy.
"Not scripted, but that's kind of what we figured it would be, a tight game or extra end or something," said Martin, a former world champion playing in his third Olympics. "It's a good win, a hard, battled win, which is important, too."
Against Germany, he dazzled the crowd with a three-point shot in the seventh that took out a German stone and veered to the middle.
Britain, the 2009 world champion and Canada's top rival, was upset 6-4 by Sweden in its opener. In other men's games in the morning session, Germany defeated the United States 7-5, and Switzerland beat Denmark 6-5.
As Canada easily beat Germany in the evening session, France beat China 6-5 and Norway needed an extra end to beat the United States 6-5.
In the women's tournament, Japan came back from an early three-point deficit to beat the United States 9-7 in a dramatic finish.
Japan scored three points in both the fifth and seventh ends to spoil US skip Debbie McCormick's Olympic return.
"In the fifth end when we got three, it was a momentum shift," Japan skip Moe Meguro said. "When we were three down, we didn't panic. We played our game. The ice is curling nicely."
The 36-year-old McCormick - back for her third Winter Games after missing out on Turin four years ago - threw her final stone with a chance to tie, and both teams ended with one rock on the edge of the button.
They were so close that an official measurement was done and Japan's rock was a hair closer in the innermost scoring circle.
If the US stone had won, the teams would have played an extra end.
Also in women's play, Sweden beat Denmark 6-5, Germany outclassed Russia 9-5 and Canada, the tournament favorite, could only edge Switzerland 5-4.
Seats were in high demand at the 5,600-seat Vancouver Olympic Centre, where scalpers outside the venue sought tickets that are considered nearly as hard to come by at these Winter Games as the country's No. 1 pastime of hockey.
"Electric, it's just so much fun to be a part of, it really is," Martin said.
Imagine how the crowd will be next week at medal time.
"Words can't describe that atmosphere," Canada's Marc Kennedy said. "There were little kids screaming, 'Go Canada.' I didn't see an empty seat in the house."
Still, the building couldn't breathe easy until the 43-year-old Martin finished the win with the big last-rock advantage known as the hammer, ending the upset hopes of a Norwegian team that made a fashion statement with its bold, diamond-printed pants.
"We looked upon this as a bonus game," Norwegian skip Thomas Ulsrud said. "Close to winning the jackpot, eh?"
In the Germans' win over the Americans, Andy Kapp took out two US stones with his second-to-last throw to secure the victory.
"We played really well," Kapp said. "It took a little bit of time to get the right shots, but at the end I made all the shots. It's always nice to win the first game. That's one point nobody can take away from us."
One concern expressed by several competitors was that the stones weren't curling as much as they hoped.
"I had three rocks through the course of the game, or four rocks, that just didn't quite curl enough," US skip John Shuster said. "Any time you have that happen and end up giving up a steal instead of scoring two, it's a bad deal. We thought I threw them OK. It's one of those weird deals where you're very close."
Skip Kevin Martin secured victory with the last stone in the extra end after Canada had squandered an early 5-1 lead, sending the capacity crowd into a frenzy.
"Not scripted, but that's kind of what we figured it would be, a tight game or extra end or something," said Martin, a former world champion playing in his third Olympics. "It's a good win, a hard, battled win, which is important, too."
Against Germany, he dazzled the crowd with a three-point shot in the seventh that took out a German stone and veered to the middle.
Britain, the 2009 world champion and Canada's top rival, was upset 6-4 by Sweden in its opener. In other men's games in the morning session, Germany defeated the United States 7-5, and Switzerland beat Denmark 6-5.
As Canada easily beat Germany in the evening session, France beat China 6-5 and Norway needed an extra end to beat the United States 6-5.
In the women's tournament, Japan came back from an early three-point deficit to beat the United States 9-7 in a dramatic finish.
Japan scored three points in both the fifth and seventh ends to spoil US skip Debbie McCormick's Olympic return.
"In the fifth end when we got three, it was a momentum shift," Japan skip Moe Meguro said. "When we were three down, we didn't panic. We played our game. The ice is curling nicely."
The 36-year-old McCormick - back for her third Winter Games after missing out on Turin four years ago - threw her final stone with a chance to tie, and both teams ended with one rock on the edge of the button.
They were so close that an official measurement was done and Japan's rock was a hair closer in the innermost scoring circle.
If the US stone had won, the teams would have played an extra end.
Also in women's play, Sweden beat Denmark 6-5, Germany outclassed Russia 9-5 and Canada, the tournament favorite, could only edge Switzerland 5-4.
Seats were in high demand at the 5,600-seat Vancouver Olympic Centre, where scalpers outside the venue sought tickets that are considered nearly as hard to come by at these Winter Games as the country's No. 1 pastime of hockey.
"Electric, it's just so much fun to be a part of, it really is," Martin said.
Imagine how the crowd will be next week at medal time.
"Words can't describe that atmosphere," Canada's Marc Kennedy said. "There were little kids screaming, 'Go Canada.' I didn't see an empty seat in the house."
Still, the building couldn't breathe easy until the 43-year-old Martin finished the win with the big last-rock advantage known as the hammer, ending the upset hopes of a Norwegian team that made a fashion statement with its bold, diamond-printed pants.
"We looked upon this as a bonus game," Norwegian skip Thomas Ulsrud said. "Close to winning the jackpot, eh?"
In the Germans' win over the Americans, Andy Kapp took out two US stones with his second-to-last throw to secure the victory.
"We played really well," Kapp said. "It took a little bit of time to get the right shots, but at the end I made all the shots. It's always nice to win the first game. That's one point nobody can take away from us."
One concern expressed by several competitors was that the stones weren't curling as much as they hoped.
"I had three rocks through the course of the game, or four rocks, that just didn't quite curl enough," US skip John Shuster said. "Any time you have that happen and end up giving up a steal instead of scoring two, it's a bad deal. We thought I threw them OK. It's one of those weird deals where you're very close."
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