Another dramatic win for Team Canada at Ford Worlds

SWIFT CURRENT, Sask. — They’re rapidly turning into the Cardiac Kids of the 2016 Ford World Women’s Curling Championship, presented by Meridian Manufacturing.

Team Canada moved into a first-place tie early in round-robin play Sunday morning at the Credit Union iplex with a dramatic 7-4 win over 2014 world champ Bina Feltscher of Switzerland.

On Saturday, Chelsea Carey’s team from Calgary — vice-skip Amy Nixon, second Jocelyn Peterman, lead Laine Peters, alternate Susan O’Connor, team coach Charley Thomas and national coach Elaine Dagg-Jackson — rallied from an early 4-0 deficit to beat Denmark’s Lene Nielsen in an extra end.

They were at it again on Sunday morning, digging themselves into a hole and then scrapping their way out.

The win left Canada at 2-0, tied with Russia’s Anna Sidorova and Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa, who both had byes on Sunday morning.

Canada was mostly in control of the game through six ends, in a 2-2 tie and holding the hammer. But Carey’s final rock in the seventh end was well short of the target, leaving the Swiss with a go-ahead steal of two.

But after being forced to a single in the eighth end, Canada ratcheted up the heat in the ninth end, grouping three stones around the button and leaving Feltscher with nothing other than a tricky hit-and-roll attempt to land into the pocket. But Feltscher was well wide of the target, and the three Canadian counters were left untouched for a go-ahead steal to take a 6-4 lead into the 10th.

“We actually felt like we played pretty well and then my draw for one (in the seventh end) hit a spot that we just didn’t anticipate (the slowness),” said Carey. “I thought it was close out of my hand and then all of a sudden it’s six feet light; we just didn’t see that coming. So we got fooled with the ice, but again, we hung in there, put together a good end in nine and got a miss out of her, which was good for us. We pulled it off, and onward and upward.”

Doing against the Swiss — holders of three of the last four world titles (Mirjam Ott in 2012 at Lethbridge, Alta.; Feltscher in 2014 in Saint John, N.B.; Alina Pätz last year in Sapporo, Japan) — made it extra special, said Carey.

“We know we’re going to be in tough, no matter which Swiss team is here,” she said. “They’re just all so good, and whoever they send, it’s going to be one of your toughest games. So, it’s big for us to come up with a win, and again, we learned a whole bunch about the ice. We’ll take that and get better from it.”

Denmark's Lene Nielsen, left, and Stephanie Risdal ponder shot options on Sunday. (Photo, Curling Canada/Michael Burns

Denmark’s Lene Nielsen, left, and Stephanie Risdal ponder shot options on Sunday. (Photo, Curling Canada/Michael Burns

Besides the two early victories, there have been other positives to be derived from Team Canada’s opening weekend, which concludes Sunday evening (7 p.m.; all times MDT) against Erika Brown of the U.S. (0-2).

“Even when we’re struggling, we’re doing a good job of staying calm, staying together and just kind of grinding through it and continuing to make shots,” said Carey. “That’s where you need to be in such a long week, and we feel really good about that.”

In the other Sunday morning game, the Danes evened their record at 1-1 with a 7-6 extra-end victory over the U.S. thanks to Nielsen’s delicate hack-weight double-takeout for the win.

With just the two games on the ice, eight teams had byes on Sunday morning: Russia, Japan, Germany’s Daniela Driendl (1-0), Sweden’s Margaretha Sigfridsson (1-0), Scotland’s Eve Muirhead (0-1), South Korea’s Un Chi Gim (0-1), Finland’s Oona Kauste (0-2) and Italy’s Federica Apollonio (0-2).

The Ford Worlds continue on Sunday with draws at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

For ticket and other event information, visit https://www.curling.ca/2016worldwomen/tickets/

For the complete results, standings, the schedule and much more, visit to https://www.curling.ca/2016worldwomen/

This story will be posted in French as soon as possible at https://www.curling.ca/2016worldwomen/?lang=fr

TSN (RDS2 in French), the exclusive television network for Curling Canada’s Season of Champions, will provide complete coverage of the 2016 Ford Worlds.