Carey gets ‘bounceback’ win at worlds
SILKEBORG, DENMARK Chelsea Carey’s Canadian rink rebounded with a needed 8-7 win over China’s Jie Mei on Wednesday at the world women’s curling championship.
The win improved the Calgary-based team’s record to 4-4 as it aims to avoid becoming the first Canadian rink to miss the playoffs at the women’s worlds since 1999.
“It’s a bit of a relief. That was a must-win game for us,” said viceskip Sarah Wilkes.
“We know we have our backs against the wall now and every game we have to come out like it’s our last game and play as hard as we can. So this is a confidence booster; that’s how we’re used to playing.”
Canada, which lost both its games Tuesday, was in a three-way tie for sixth with Scotland and Japan after Wednesday’s draws. The top six teams in the 13-rink event make the playoffs.
“We needed a bounceback,” Carey said. “It was a tough day yesterday because we didn’t feel like we deserved two losses and that’s a bit hard to park and move on. So it was big for us to come out like this today. The ice was tricky, but we were very calm about it. We were in a good place and did a good job of being patient and pulled one off.”
Carey scored three on a draw in the ninth to wipe out a two-point deficit and then held on for the win against a Chinese team that entered the draw in a tie for first.
Stolen singles in the fifth and seventh ends gave Canada a 5-4 lead before China took its first lead of the game with an eighthend deuce on a wonderful double takeout from Rui Wang.
Canada took advantage of a Wang miss in the ninth to score three and never gave China a legitimate shot at a game-tying two in the 10th.
The game against China was Canada’s lone contest Wednesday. In Wednesday’s late draw, China lost its second match of the day, falling 9-8 to the Swiss in an extra end. China fell into fourth at 6-3. Switzerland is alone in fifth at 5-3.
The Swedes lead the standings at 7-1 followed by Russia at 7-2. South Korea is third at 6-2. Canada faces Switzerland and Russia on Thursday.