Team Canada withstood a late charge from Sweden to move to 5-2 at the World Women’s Curling Championships in Prince George on Wednesday, March 23.
Anna Hasselborg needed to draw for shot stone with her final throw in the 10th end, but it ended up short, giving Kerri Einarson’s team the 10-8 win. After picking up the victory, Canada was fourth in the standings, behind Switzerland, Korea and Sweden.
“They’re one of the best in the world,” Einarson said after the game of team Hasselborg.
“That was a huge win for us, and a huge confidence booster going forward.”
Canada looked to be cruising against the Olympic bronze medalists, scoring three with the hammer twice in the first five ends. The home team took an 8-2 lead into the fifth end break.
Sweden wouldn’t go away, and after scoring a three of their own in the sixth, would make things interesting for the partisan crowd.
READ MORE: Women’s curling championship coming back to Prince George in 2022
“I was not feeling comfortable until the game was over,” Einarson said.
“I had a couple opportunities, where I just was a little tight and didn’t quite get it back enough, but everyone was throwing really good.”
With Sweden needing a steal in the tenth end to tie the game, Einarson along with Lead Briane Meilleur, second Shannon Birchard and third Val Sweeting completely blocked out the scoring area, forcing Hasselborg into a nearly impossible draw she couldn’t pull off.
Canada will pick up their sixth win of the championships on Wednesday night, as Team Scotland was forced to drop out of the event due to cases of COVID-19.
The team will still need to come to the rink before the draw starts to throw their draw to the button.
“You want to go into this treating it like you are playing,” Einarson said.
“We’ll do our pre-game practice maybe a little bit different than normal, but we’ll just make that count.”
The World Women’s Curling Championship is at the CN Centre in Prince George. Canada is next in action against an actual opposing team at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, March 24 when they take on the United States.
Playoffs begin on March 26.
READ MORE: Canadian men look to return to World Cup, 37 years after historic win in St. John’s
Do you have something to add to this story, or something else we should report on? Email: cassidy.dankochik@quesnelobserver.com
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