Thursday’s 2 PM draw featured plenty of excitement; with one game remaining for some teams in the round robin, it meant plenty was on the line for these games.
The marquee game featured Denmark against Sweden, although it happened to be the quickest one of the four, as Sweden handily beat the Danes in only six ends.
Anyone who’s attended the Championship knows when Sweden is playing, as a group of about 30 fans loudly cheer for their team, and provided some good performances of their own.
The Swedes started off the game strong, getting two in the first, and getting a steal of two in the second. They never looked back after the strong start. When Denmark had the hammer, it generally came down to an amazing shot by skip Lene Nielsen to get one point instead of a multiple point steal.
However, Sweden stayed in control, with the Danes conceding after six ends and with the victory let the Swedes look forward to the playoffs.
Next to that game was Russia taking on Korea. Korea, another team with the top record during the round robin, performed incredibly well in the latter half of the game, getting steals and multiple points to end the game 7-3 after nine ends.
The other match-ups featured competition right to the last rock, or in the case of Scotland and Italy, extra ends to determine the winner. Italy had a chance to win the match in the 10th end with a potential 3 points with the hammer, but a heavy stone rolled out of the rings.
However, that two points was preceded by seven straight ends where each team scored two points. It was an incredibly evenly matched game and had plenty of excitement. Scotland, in the extra end, had skip Eve Muirhead draw to the button to take the game.
The last game of Draw 16 had a great competition between the Czech Republic and Germany. Germany was a point behind, and got the two points in the tenth to defeat the Czech Republic. The end result was 6-5.
Even though the draw didn’t feature the home team Canadians, the four games had enough great shots and intense competition to keep the crowd entertained, with plenty of fans rooting for these international squads.