Canada still in playoff hunt at Capital One World Women’s

Canada’s Amber Holland remained alive for a playoff spot at the Capital One World Women’s Curling Championship in Esbjerg, Denmark, walloping Korea’s Mi-Sung Shin, 9-2 in a seven-end affair Thursday morning.

Photo: World Curling Federation

The result improved Canada’s record to 6-4, currently tied with Switzerland and Russia for third place, but behind Sweden (8-1) and China (7-3), although Denmark (6-3) has a game in hand. “This game is simple when you’re playing well and the other team gives you a few breaks,” said Holland. “We were pretty comfortable after we stole the four points (third end) and we were positioning the rocks really well. We were feeling pretty comfortable with everything – you can tell they’re learning, and they gave us some opportunities that we definitely took advantage of.” In other Draw 15 games, Switzerland’s Mirjam Ott kept pace with a 9-3 shellacking of Scotland’s Anna Sloan, China’s Bingyu Wang proved an 8-5 winner over Russia (Anna Sidorova) while United States (Patti Lank) beat Czech Republic (Anna Kubeskova), 6-4. Holland faces defending champion Germany, skipped by Andrea Schöpp, in another must-win in her final round robin game, live at 9:00 am on TSN. “You know what, I don’t board-watch at all,” continued Holland. “I let other people do that for me, I just focus on my own job. Obviously we know that a win is what we need.” Sweden’s Anette Norberg has already clinched top spot and a berth in the Page 1-2 game, in spite of the fact she still has to play Czech Republic and United States. Even by losing both, Sweden still owns any tiebreaker advantage over China or Denmark, the only teams left which could also wind up at 8-3. With its win this morning, China, the 2009 world champion, clinched at least a tiebreaker berth. Host Denmark (Lene Nielsen) meets both China and Russia to conclude its round robin, games which will determine their playoff chances as well, while Switzerland finishes off with Norway this evening.