World champions drop first two games
GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA Nobody saw this coming.
Canada, despite being the defending Olympic champion, is winless after two draws at the 2018 Winter Games.
Rachel Homan’s Ottawa foursome played two tight games and came out on the losing end both times — falling 8-6 to South Korea and 7-6 in an extra end to Sweden.
It’s not the end of the world, as the reigning world champions still have seven games left to nail down a playoff spot. But any time Canada loses even one game at the Olympics, it’s surprising. Two losses constitute a true shocker.
“I’m at the Olympics, so nothing is disappointing,” Homan said. “It’s a long round robin and there are so many good teams. We knew it was going to be tough for anybody to go undefeated in this tournament. We’ve got to keep plugging away.”
The Canadians, including third Emma Miskew, second Joanne Courtney and lead Lisa Weagle, will try for their first win against Denmark at the Gangneung Curling Centre.
The team played well in its first two games and had chances to win, but that doesn’t appease the high expectations back home in a country that has never missed out on a medal in any Olympic curling discipline since 1998.
The loss to South Korea was Canada’s first since the gold medal game in Vancouver in 2010. Jennifer Jones went 11-0 to win the gold medal in Sochi in 2014.
Korean skip Eunjung Kim made some spectacular shots and the Canadians couldn’t quite match the razzle dazzle.
The Homan foursome has plenty of experience and can handle being in a hole, but it can’t get much deeper.
On the bright side, Homan and Co. have been down a similar road before. They lost the first game at the Canadian Olympic trials in December but reeled off 10 straight wins to qualify for Pyeongchang.
It’s far from an insurmountable situation but there will need to be more urgency from the Canadian side. There are still plenty of teams left on the round-robin schedule that can give Canada a great deal of trouble.
Few people would have predicted this for Canada, but Miskew didn’t sound particularly concerned.
“We knew all the teams earned their right to be here, so we expected a great game from everyone and so far, that’s what they’re giving us.”