Team Canada plays for Bronze at Youth Olympic Games

A loss in the semi-finals means Team Canada is playing for Bronze at the First Winter Youth Olympic Games. Quarterfinal action against Czech Republic on Wednesday morning got off to a slow start. “We deviated from our game plan a little bit,” said coach Helen Radford about the first few ends in which Canada trailed 3-2 after three. But Team Canada got back on track in the fourth end when vice Corryn Brown made two “fantastic freezes,” according to Radford, to set up a score of three.  “We kept the fifth end clean and stole two points when the Czech skip was heavy on a draw.” Giving up a steal of one in the seventh allowed the Czech team to close the gap, but a strong eighth end left skip Thomas Scoffin an open hit for the win. “Our first goal was to the make the playoffs and we achieved that,” said Scoffin after the game. “Our second goal was to win that first quarterfinal game, and we are there. It’s just another step on the road. We’re not there yet. We’re keeping our heads level and staying in the moment.” In the semi-finals, Canada met Italy, who pulled away from the outset, establishing a 6-1 lead by the fourth end with a steal of three. A disappointed Scoffin gave credit to the Italian team after the tough loss.  “It was tough with them scoring a deuce in the first end,” he said. “We had to play more aggressively but credit to them. Their skip made all his shots today and best of luck to them in the final. We’ll take some time, regroup, go over what happened but we’re going to be OK for the bronze medal game.” The medal games – Canada plays Sweden for bronze, and Italy plays Switzerland for gold – take place Wednesday evening at the Innsbruck Exhibition Centre Curling Hall.