8 Ends is your day by day one-stop store for all issues curling with information, notes, perception and research during the 2022 Iciness Olympic Video games in Beijing.
First Finish: Canada’s Brad Gushue will play for bronze after coming simply quick within the males’s curling semifinals Thursday dropping 5-3 to Sweden’s Niklas Edin in Beijing. The 3-time reigning international champion Edin will meet Nice Britain’s Bruce Mouat, who beat protecting Olympic gold medallist John Shuster of america 8-4.
Sweden outplayed Canada in any respect 4 positions within the percentages. Canadian 2d Brett Gallant shot a game-low 69 consistent with cent and that may have a trickle-down impact during the lineup main to raised possibility calls. 3rd Mark Nichols shot 79 consistent with cent, in comparison to Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson at 89 consistent with cent, whilst Gushue himself fired at a 76 consistent with cent clip with Edin at 90 consistent with cent.
2d Finish: Sweden began with the hammer and not trailed as Canada used to be not able to upend Edin. Even though Canada held Sweden to at least one level in the second one and wrestled keep watch over of last-rock benefit, Gushue could not convert at the alternative and needed to accept a unmarried of his personal within the 3rd to tie it 1-1. The groups alternated deuces as a super draw from Gushue within the 5th arrange his two rely heading into the spoil.
Sweden used to be pressured to take one level once more within the 8th finish giving Canada a golden alternative to take a look at and rating two for the win after blanking the 9th. It wasn’t a very simple clean both as Gushue’s shooter needed to curl round a guard with quiet weight to chip out Sweden’s shot rock. Edin pulled off a high-pressure hit and roll on his final within the ultimate body and Gushue needed to try a difficult runback double nevertheless it used to be to not be. Gushue’s shooter over-curled only a tad an excessive amount of and Sweden’s shot stone held up for a thieve.
3rd Finish: After lacking the medal around in blended doubles and ladies’s play, Gushue is Canada’s ultimate hope at incomes a medal in curling at those Iciness Olympic Video games. The 2006 Olympic champion Gushue is a -182 favorite over Shuster within the bronze fit (Friday 1:05 a.m. ET). Canada scored a 10-5 victory within the round-robin over the U.S. plus Gushue holds a 9-3 all-time head-to-head file over Shuster, in keeping with CurlingZone. Canada has misplaced 3 immediately video games now even though and must select up their spirits taking up a free American squad. It appeared like the U.S. used to be out of it early right down to a 2-3 file, however flipped the script and went 3-1 within the again part of round-robin play to qualify. Canada misplaced to Switzerland within the bronze medal sport 4 years in the past however the one holdover from that squad is Marc Kennedy, who threw 3rd for Kevin Koe and is Gushue’s trade this time.
Nice Britain is indexed because the early favorite towards Sweden at a -154 chalk. Mouat beat Edin 7-6 all through the round-robin portion. Edin (+120 underdog) earned bronze in 2014 and silver in 2018 and seems to be made up our minds to take that ultimate step to the highest of the rostrum.
Fourth Finish: Beautiful neat that Eriksson will turn into the primary double medal winner in curling at a unmarried Iciness Olympic Video games. Eriksson captured bronze in blended doubles with Almida de Val and is now assured both gold or silver within the males’s event. Eriksson and de Val defeated Mouat and Jennifer Dodds within the bronze medal sport. Such a lot for fatigue taking part in back-to-back tournaments, eh?
5th Finish: Canada’s Jennifer Jones defeated Denmark’s Madeleine Dupont 10-4 within the ultimate ladies’s round-robin consultation however the victory wasn’t sufficient to qualify for the medal around. Jones completed in a three-way tie with Nice Britain’s Eve Muirhead and Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa for the general two spots within the semifinals with similar 5-4 information. Head-to-head solved not anything as they had been all 1-1 towards each and every different, so it got here right down to the draw shot problem, in keeping with the pre-game shootout ratings to resolve who begins with the hammer. Nice Britain (35.27 cm moderate, 8 general) and Japan (36.00 cm moderate, 9th general) complex whilst Canada (45.44 cm moderate, tenth general) used to be eradicated.
Canada’s draw shot problem used to be deficient all week and no longer simply in ladies’s play with the blended doubles workforce of Rachel Homan and John Morris additionally completing final and Gushue score 6th out of 10 males’s groups. Whether or not it’s one thing Canadian groups aren’t working towards sufficient or one thing else will have to be appeared into.
6th Finish: Even though the draw shot problem is the legit explanation why Canada used to be eradicated, the workforce additionally misplaced in a stunning disenchanted to host China in a sport the place they had been the favorite. Canada trailed early, got here again and held the hammer within the additional finish however gave up a thieve. Credit score to China in addition to that they had been taking part in the position of the spoiler all through the week with wins over Sweden, South Korea and Nice Britain.
Canada’s different 3 losses had been towards groups that certified: Sweden, Switzerland and Japan. Sweden is the protecting Olympic gold medallist with Japan incomes bronze in 2018 whilst Switzerland is the two-time reigning international champion. All of the ones occasions discussed noticed Canada leave out the rostrum and had been totally other Canadian groups, too. The parity at the world level in ladies’s curling is at its biggest level while you additionally imagine South Korea (2018 Olympic silver medallists), america (2021 international bronze medallists) and ROC (2021 international silver medallists) had been additionally within the box and neglected out at the medal around, too.
7th Finish: You can’t fault Curling Canada for sending the “mistaken” ladies’s workforce or no longer sending the “easiest” ladies’s workforce. Jones received the Olympic trials event truthful and sq. again in November. But even so, there’s no ensure every other workforce would have completed any higher or worse. Like with the blended doubles, the place Canada misplaced to Italy by means of mere millimetres on a measure, we’re now speaking about a mean of 10 centimetres or much less with Jones eradicated on dangerous success of the draw.
8th Finish: Switzerland will face Japan and Sweden will play Nice Britain within the ladies’s semifinals. Silvana Tirinzoni (8-1) completed first with only one loss to Anna Hasselborg and enters the semifinal as a -286 favorite. Tirinzoni simply doubled up on Satsuki Fujisawa 8-4 within the final round-robin consultation with an 11-2 all-time head-to-head file in keeping with CurlingZone.
Hasselborg (7-2) is the favorite over Muirhead at a -143 chalk. It is a fair 19-19 at the all-time head-to-head file for Hasselborg and Muirhead, in keeping with CurlingZone, even supposing Muirhead has received their final 3 conferences together with an 8-2 rout within the round-robin. Sweden, which began this week at 2-2, has now received 5 immediately video games.
All odds courtesy of Coolbet.
