Women’s curling: Canada comes out flat in loss to Japan, rebounds with victory over Scotland

SWIFT CURRENT, SASK.— Sometimes things just don’t go your way, and Canada’s Chelsea Carey can vouch for that.

She suffered a disappointing 11-2 loss in six ends to Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa on Thursday afternoon in Draw 16 of the women’s curling world championship, but Carey was philo- sophical about the loss afterward.

“That was one where we just couldn’t buy one and you have those sometimes,” said Carey after stepping off the ice at Credit Union i-Plex. “We weren’t that far off, we were just off and they punished us every time. “It happens.” And with her playoff aspirations in the balance, she rebounded to defeat Scotland’s Eve Muirhead 9-4 in the late match Thursday. Canada goes on to face Russia’s Anna Sidorova (8-3) on Saturday afternoon in the 3-4 Page playoff.

“All we can go do is go out and leave our hearts and souls on the ice,” said Carey. “That’s what we’ll do and whatever happens, happens.”

Fujisawa (9-2) opened with a deuce in the first end, then took a 4-0 lead after Carey tapped a high guard while Fujisawa was sitting two.

A Canadian hit and roll in the third chipped away at Japan’s lead, but Fujisawa replied with a double in the fourth to make it 6-1. Carey added a single in the fifth with an easy draw in.

Japan used a single takeout in the sixth end to score five with Carey and her teammates offering handshakes.

“It’s not like we played terribly, we just couldn’t get things in the right place,” said Carey. “I don’t think they missed a shot.”

It’s only the third time Japan has made the playoffs at the women’s world championships and the first time they’ve made the 1-2 Page playoff.

Tiebreaker games, if necessary, will be played Friday with the Page 1-2 playoff that evening.