Canada Sweden Brad Gushue Niklas Edin Anna Hasselborg Jennifer Jones curling Beijing Games
BEIJING – Brad Gushue stood at the side of the sheet with his hands on his hips, a grimace etched in his face as he glanced back at the scoreboard.
Another end had slipped away. Another tick was in the loss column.
Gushue’s last shot to make the draw – and possibly win it – was off target, the latest mistake in a 7-4 loss to Sweden’s Niklas Edin that made the frustrated Canadian look for answers.
“I’m pissed to be honest,” Gushue said. “It was a bad performance by me. I put it on my shoulders to 100 percent.
“It’s as bad as a game I’ve been playing for a long time.”
Gushue was 47 percent on a draw and threw 57 percent overall, by far the lowest number of the eight players on the ice.
Sweden shot 88 percent as a team to 83 percent for Canada.
“I felt I had let the team down,” Gushue said. “I thought they played well enough for us to win or at least have a chance – which we did in the end – but I missed too many shots today.”
It was a somewhat similar ending as Sweden’s 7-6 win over Canada in the ladies’ round-robin draw in the morning.
Just like the men, the Swedish women sometimes fought in the 10th end and Canada almost took advantage. Anna Hasselborg escaped when Jennifer Jones had a chance to score three but was content with one.
The results left both Canadian teams with two losses each. A third defeat would basically move things to must-win mode on the Ice Cube.
Although it is not time to panic yet, the pressure is mounting if Canada wants to return to the Olympic team’s curling podium for the first time since 2014.
“I simply got no results,” Gushue said. “So I just have to be a little sharper.”
Jones, meanwhile, went for a thin double with his last throw, the Canadian side assuming it had the second shot stone for the tie if it didn’t work.
The assumption proved costly. Her last stone bent slightly over and a measurement confirmed that the Swedish stone on the edge of the eight-foot-long ring was closer.
“I was surprised that the measure did not go our way,” said Canadian Vice President Kaitlyn Lawes. “I’m actually still pretty shocked about it.
“I would have bet my house that we put other shots there.”
The Swedes were pressed after two stones were picked up earlier in the end. Third Sara McManus helped her side by doing a delicate hit and roll that almost froze the button.
Hasselborg put his last shot on the back of the eight-footer near two Canadian stones. Jones hit the shot stone and rolled next to it, needed a small bump or two to move the Swedish stone back.
Instead, the shooter caught the Canadian stone thick for the only point.
“It was not that far away,” Jones said. “I thought we were second shots so I thought we would (to) an extra (finish) and unfortunately we were not.”
Sweden improved to 2-1 and Canada slipped to 1-2.
“Sure, we had a happy break,” said Sweden’s coach Wayne Middaugh. “Jen never misses that shot. It was really lucky for us.”
Hasselborg made a delicate three-pointer in the fifth end for a lead she would not let go.
“It’s a big roller coaster,” she said. “So many things happen in a 10-game final. You just have to see every shot as it is and play it.”
Swiss Silvana Tirinzoni and American Tabitha Peterson, both undefeated with 3-0, were inactive for a draw in the morning.
Jones was idle in the evening. Japan, South Korea and Sweden went into the late draw a draw in third place with 2-1. Canada, Denmark and the United Kingdom were 1-2 ahead of China and Russia at 0-3.
“I do not think we will be able to afford too many more losses,” Jones said. “So we have to find ways to win some matches here.”
The Canadian men’s team kept up with Sweden despite some inconsistency.
Gushue made it a one-point match with a second in the eighth end but Edin pulled the button in the ninth against three.
Both teams felt time pressure in the 10th end.
Edin had three seconds left on the clock when he delivered a freeze on the edge of the button between two Canadian stones. Gushue tried to pick it out but was wide.
Sweden leads the men’s round-robin position with 4-0. Switzerland’s Peter de Cruz was 3-1 and Britain’s Bruce Mouat was 2-1.
Gushue ended up in a five-way tie for fourth place at 2-2 with China, Norway, Russia and the United States.
“We do not have much room for maneuver and we have many good teams to play,” said Gushue. “So time to go to work.”
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on February 12, 2022.
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