American curlers continue down a rocky road

The Canadian men’s curling team had the day off on Wednesday but draw 3 was not short of action.

The American team who won bronze just four year’s ago in Turin, have had a rocky start beginning this round robin 0-3.

After three ends, American skip John Shuster faced a four point deficit, but scored a crucial deuce in the fourth end. Finding their stride, the  U.S. team stole a point in each of the fifth through eighth ends giving them a 6-4 lead.

In the ninth end, Switzerland scored a point and stole a point in the tenth to force the extra end. 

In the extra, Ralph Stockli, the Swiss skip, successfully completed a double take-out to sit two and force Shuster to make a tough final shot. 

But Shuster missed his final shot just inches to give the Swiss team the 7-6 win.

“We set ourselves up right where we wanted to be in the 10th end. We just didn’t quite get there, and in the extra end we had our chance,” U.S. coach Phill Drobnick said to NBC Sports. “We just have to go back and regroup.”

Switzerland now has a record of 2-0.  

China only needed seven ends to beat Denmark 8-1, dropping the Danes’ record to 0-2 and evening out their own 1-1. 

Liu Rui and his team from China scored three points in the third end then stole two in the fourth and another in the fifth on the way to their first win of the tournament. The Danish skipped by Johnny Frederiksen scored their lone point in the second end.

Great Britain bounced back after their surprising loss to Sweden on Tuesday and beat France 9-4. David Murdoch and the British team stole two points in the ninth end forcing France to concede. French skip Thomas Dufour shot 64 per cent in the loss, conceding five points in ends where France had the hammer. Both teams are now 1-1.

Sweden stayed undefeated in tournament-play, beating Germany 6-3. 24-year-old skip Niklas Edin and his Swedish team stole a point in the eighth end and two in the tenth to secure the win. The Germans scored a single point in the first and fourth ends then stole one more in the fifth taking them to a 1-2 record.

Sweden plays Canada on Thursday at 9:00 a.m. PT.

About this article

By: Kaitlin Kettle
Posted: Feb 17 2010 9:56 pm
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Filed under: Winter Games
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