Canada in the hunt at Kuntai World Wheelchair Curling Championship

After three days of competition, the Canadian National Wheelchair Curling team is settling in at the World Championships in Beijing. While the team admitted there was some “rust” after 19 months away from competition, Canada now finds itself in the middle of the 12-team field, and looks to surge toward the playoffs in the second half of the week.

Canada now owns a 3-2 record, after splitting their two games on Monday, beating Sweden 5-4, and losing to Scotland 7-4. The win over Sweden was the third straight for Canada.

“We love playing against Sweden. They are a great team to play against,” said Canadian skip Mark Ideson. “We have a great relationship with them. They always give us a great game.” 

This matchup was no exception. Sweden started the game with the hammer, and blanked the first end. Canada was able to force them to one in the second end and score two in the third. The same pattern repeated in the fourth and fifth with Canada forcing the Swedes to one, before hanging two. Sweden answered with a deuce of their own in the sixth end, tying the game. After the seventh end was blanked, Canada had the hammer in the eighth.

After the first 15 shots left a pile of rocks in play, Canada’s fourth-stone thrower Jon Thurston needed a raise takeout with his last shot to win the game.  He made it to claim Canada’s third win.

“We are happy to come away with the ‘W’ and kind of build off the momentum that we got on day two,” said Ideson. “We want to carry that forward.”

Unfortunately, the Canadians were not able to do so, as they ran into Scotland on the next draw. 

The Scots scored one with the hammer in the first end, and Canada responded with a single of their own. Scotland scored two in the third, and forced Canada to a one in the fourth. Scotland would score two again in the fifth and seventh ends, before running the Canadians out of rocks in the eighth.

Scotland, skipped by Hugh Nibloe, holds a 3-1 record and sits just behind the Russians at the top of the table. 

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

For more information about the 2021 World Wheelchair Curling Championship, including scores, schedules and team lineups, go to worldcurling.org/events/wwhcc2021/