Team Canada steals another win

After a slow start, Team Canada fought back to steal their way to a 6-4 win over Australia on Tuesday morning at the World Mixed Curling Championship in Berne, Switzerland. Max Kirkpatrick and his Swift Current, Sask., team of third Jolene Campbell, second Chris Haichert, lead Teejay Haichert and coach Ron Meyers got behind early and trailed 4-2 at the break. But the Canadians dug in and dominated the second half, scoring one in the fifth and stealing the next two ends. Leading 6-4 after seven, they ran the Australians out of rocks for the win. “That was probably not our best effort but it worked out and we’re happy to get the win out of it,” said Campbell after the game. After giving up a loss to Spain on Monday, Team Canada has bounced back and is trying to generate some momentum, she said. “This was a rocky start for us (in the round robin) and we’re trying to build,” she said. “We know the competition is going to get tougher as the week goes on, so we’re happy to be building and getting the wins at the same time.” The win helps Canada stay at the top of the standings in pool play, tied with Norway and Germany at the top of Group B, all with 4-1 records. On Wednesday, Canada plays Wales and Germany, then closes out the round robin Thursday against Norway in a game to be televised on Swiss TV online. Swiss Sport TV (https://www.swiss-sport.tv/) will broadcast the playoffs as well as some games from the round robin, including Canada versus Norway on Thurs. Sept. 17 at 10 a.m. (ET). This is the first time a world championship has been staged in the traditional mixed (two male, two female players) format. It replaces the European Mixed Championship that had been played for the past few seasons. A total of 36 teams, split into four pools of nine, will contest the world championship. The teams will play a round robin within their pool, with the top three teams from each pool reaching the playoffs, which begin Friday, Sept. 18. The pool winners will be seeded directly into the quarter-finals, while the second- and third-place teams will play crossover playoff games. The semifinals, along with the gold- and bronze-medal games, are scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 19. Results, statistics, news and photos from the World Mixed Curling Championship 2015 can be seen here on the WCF’s official event website: https://worldcurling.org/wmxcc2015.