ROLLERCOASTER DAY AT YOG

CANADA STILL IN CONTENTION AT YOUTH OLYMPICS AFTER SPLIT RESULTS TUESDAY 

Tuesday was an up and down day for Canada’s curlers at the Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon, South Korea. 

The foursome of Nathan Gray (Dartmouth, N.S.), Chloe Fediuk (Edmonton), Owain Fisher (North River, N.S.), and Allie Iskiw (Edmonton) started the day with a victory over Germany, but dropped a heartbreaker to South Korea on a last shot-double takeout by skip Dayheun Kim. 

Canada now sits in the middle standings table with a 3-3 record and, depending on tomorrow’s results could, still qualify for playoffs depending on how a log-jam of 4-3 teams resolves itself. 

The first game of the day was controlled by Canada from the beginning. Facing Germany’s Lukas Jaeger, the Canadians opened with hammer. They took one in the first, stole one in the second, and stole three in the third to take a 5-0 lead.  

That was all Canada would need. After blanking the fourth, Germany put two on the board in the fifth. Canada, now with the hammer and a three-point lead, blanked their way to the finish line, not allowing – or scoring – another point for a 5-2 win. 

After lunch, and an afternoon nap, the Canadian squad returned to the rink to face South Korea, in front of an enthusiastic local crowd.  

Once again, Canada opened with hammer, and this time put two on the scoreboard. The Koreans replied with two of their own, and Canada answered with another deuce. After Korea blanked the fourth, they Scored three in the fifth to take a 5-4 lead, going into the sixth end. 

In the sixth, a number of rocks were bounced around all end, arranging for better angles and scoring chances. When the dust settled, Korea was sitting one, but Canada’s Gray still had a shot for two.  

Unfortunately for him, his light tap attempt sailed a bit wide, and he removed the Canadian second counter allowing Korea to steal two, instead of the one they were sitting.  

Down 7-4, the Canadians showed no signs of quitting. They stormed back with a score of three in the seventh end to tie the game. And they weren’t done yet, after a near perfect eighth end from Canada, Kim faced a Canadian stone on the button, half buried by another in the four-foot. 

The Korean skip made no mistake on the short double-takeout and secured the win. 

“We are playing pretty good,” said Gray.” but we’re just not getting the results to happen.” 

Canada has one more round-robin game to play against Denmark. A win would create a quagmire at 4-3, where head-to-head records and Last Shot Draw scores would influence seeding, and sort potential ties. 

At the moment, only Great Britain is guaranteed a playoff spot out of this pool. By the end of the next draw, there could be as many as five teams with a 4-3 record vying for the last two spots. After six games, Canada sits behind only Denmark in the LSD standings, and by less than two centimetres. 

In Pool A, only the United States is through for sure, while China, Japan, and Sweden will battle for the other two playoff berths. 

Some games are streaming on http://www.youtube.com/olympics and https://olympics.com/en/gangwon-2024/. CBC has daily highlights on http://cbcsports.ca 

Scores, standings, and schedules can be found here: https://livescores.worldcurling.org/ 

*NOTE – a replay of the Canada vs. South Korea game is available here: https://olympics.com/en/gangwon-2024/