Measurement gives Sweden a 7-6 win over Canada in curling for women in Beijing 2022 – Team Canada
Andrew Lahodynsky / COC
Jennifer Jones saved Team Canada from a potentially monstrous hole in the first end, but could not save her teammates at the end of a 7-6 loss to Anna Hasselborg from Sweden in curling for women at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Four missed shots by Sweden in the 10thth gave Jones a shot for an angled double that would have made two and given Canada a draw. She got one but missed the other Swedish stone that a measurement showed was a second counter.
“We felt really good about it, we had seen that shot before. Just a little unlucky, just hit it a hair too thick,” said Canadian third Kaitlyn Lawes, who is usually very careful when it comes to determining shot stones. we were the second shot so thought we could go for it. A little surprised that the measurement did not go our way, actually quite shocked. I would have bet on my house that we sat like other shots. ”
Three hours earlier, Jones, the cold-haired veteran from Winnipeg, met four Swedish counters and calmly pulled up the edge of the button, completely buried. Swedish skipper Hasselborg’s only shot was an in-off that missed. A potential game-killing five for Sweden turned into a steal by one for Canada.
Games are rarely decided in the first end but give up five to Sweden and Canada’s comeback task would have been monstrous.
“I thought the last five ends, even the last nine ends, were pretty good,” said Canadian coach Viktor Kjell. “A bit of a slow start, but the good thing is that we are close in everything we do.”
In a match-up between two of the best women’s teams in the world and the two most recent Olympic champions – Jones 2014 and Hasselborg 2018 – Sweden had control over most of the finals but could not shake off Jones in the latter part of the match. game.
Through seven ends, Sweden had not given Canada a real opportunity to score more goals than singles at three ends while they made a second in the third, three in the fifth and one in seven for what seemed to be a comfortable 6-3 margin
An incorrect technical decision by Sweden in the eighth opened the door for Team Jones to score two goals and create a hectic pursuit of goals. Instead of blocking Canada’s path to a double, Sweden chose to block the route to make a single.
Jones desperately needed two to survive and made the perfect double takeout, saving his shooter to count the second. Hasselborg pulled the whole button to calculate two Canadian stones inside the quadruped for a decisive single of nine.
“We fought to the end, never gave up, made some good shots the last half to give ourselves a shot,” said Team Canada runner-up Jocelyn Peterman about the team’s resilience and their refusal to panic. “It’s a long week, we’ll take a lot of information from this game and into the next game.”
With the victory, Sweden improved to 2-1, in a three-way tie for third behind the leading and undefeated USA and Switzerland, both with 3-0. Canada falls to 1-2 in the 10-team round robin to determine the four best teams that advance to the semifinals.