Canada strikes silver at World Mixed Curling

There was no shame in this second place finish for Team Canada.

The Canadian duo of Reid Carruthers and Joanne Courtney were edged 6-5 by Switzerland’s Martin Rios and Jenny Perret during the gold medal game of the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship Saturday afternoon at the ATB Centre.

Canada led 5-2 coming home, but a miss from Courtney on her final shot of the game with a crowded house allowed Perret to draw for four for a stunning comeback to give the Swiss their sixth gold medal in the 10-year history of the event.

But with the silver medal marking Canada’s best showing at the event combined with Carruthers and Courtney earning Canada one of eight spots in the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea next February, it was indeed a great preformance on their Canadian home soil.

“I’m super proud of our support staff and coaches,” said Courtney, who went 5-2 in round-robin play. “Our families were here and the crowd was amazing. It was just a fantastic week. If you were to ask us after our last round-robin game how we would feel about winning silver, we would have been pretty happy. So there’s lots to be proud of. It definitely stings, silver always does sting a little bit, but congrats to the Swiss. They played amazing.”

“For sure, it was an awesome week and a great week for Canada to put on a performance in the playoffs,” added Carruthers. “We have tons to be proud of. Obviously, Joanne played amazing all week and put a few shots together. It was a tough way to lose the game, at the same time, we can learn a bit from this one.”

In the gold medal game, Canada put up consecutive steals in the fourth and fifth ends for a 4-1 lead.

The teams exchanged points in the sixth and seventh ends with Canada leading by three coming home.

But when Courtney clipped her own stone on her last shot, it opened the door for Perret to draw for the winning point.

“I think Canada should have won the final,” said Rios. “We just tried to stay

in the game in the last end and tried to somehow keep our rocks in play and, if possible, cover. It just worked out. It was a bad miss. It was a little unfortunate that it squeezed out and we took our chance. It was a shot for four and she made it. It wasn’t an easy one, but (Perret) made it perfectly.

“The thing for me is having played a World Championship against Canada in Canada, the biggest curling country in the world. I’m especially proud for (Perret) because it’s her first one. She played unbelievable this week.”

Last month, Courtney

was playing with the Rachel Homan which captured the World Women’s Curling Championship gold medal in Beijing.

Now, she brings home another Worlds medal and gets ready for next year.

“It’s lots of fun out there,” she said. “It’s great to play with someone who I’ve never played with before. I’ve learned so much from Reid this week. We tried our absolute best out there. It’s a ton of work to play mixed doubles and play it well. The competition here was amazing. In the round of 16 there wasn’t really any easy games. We have lots of work to do for mixed doubles in Canada and we’re really proud we were able to get us to the Olympics.”

On Saturday the eight National Olympic Committees to qualify for the first ever Olympic Winter Games mixed doubles event were named. In addition to Canada. they are China, Russia, Switzerland, USA, Norway, Finland and hosts Korea.

In the bronze medal game, Dexin Ba and Rui Wang of China defeated Czech Republic’s Tomas Paul and Zuzana Hajkova 6-2.