Scotland were crowned the 2017 World Mixed Curling Champions this afternoon (Saturday 14 October) after defeating Canada 8-5 in an extra-end at the Palladium de Champéry in Champéry, Switzerland.
Canada opened the scoring in the first end when they attempted a hit and roll for the blank, but a nose hit kept their stone in play for a score of one point. They then forced Scotland to draw for the single point in the second end to level the scores.
The third end saw Scotland attempt a triple take-out to clear the Canadian counters and while two Canadian stones remained in the house, they were no longer shot stones. Canadian skip, Trevor Bonot, was marginally heavy with his final stone, giving Scotland a steal of two points. Scotland would go onto steal another single point in the fourth end to take a 4-1 lead into the break.
Canada got back on the scoreboard in the fifth end with a single point, before Scotland responded with a single point of their own in the sixth end.
Canada reduced the deficit in the seventh end with a great double take-out to score two points and trail by a single point going into the eighth end. Canada then levelled the scores at 5-5 in the eighth end after Scotland’s draw with their final stone was a touch wide.
In the extra-end Canada applied all the pressure in an attempt to force another steal. Scotland skip, Grant Hardie, found himself facing two Canadian shot stones, when he threw a strong double take-out with his final stone to remove the Canadian counters, score three points make Scotland the new world mixed champions.
At the same time this afternoon, the bronze medal game was being played. After a blanked first end, Norway opened the scoring with two points in the second end. They stole a further two points when Czech Republic’s final stone rolled out attempting a hit and stay. Norway stole another single point in the fourth end to take a 5-0 lead into the break.
Czech Republic’s fightback began immediately with a score of two points in the fifth end then a further two points in the seventh end to close the gap to two points.
In the final end, Czech Republic loaded the house with stones, and after a few missed raise take-out attempts by Norway, stole three points for the win and the bronze medals.
Earier this morning the semi-final games were played. Canada defeated Norway 5-3 to progress to the gold medal game, while Scotland defeated Czech Republic 6-2.
They said it
Grant Hardie; Scotland skip (after winning the gold medals): “It’s brilliant. I don’t know where to start. The whole team played brilliant all week and especially the during the play-offs they came to the fore. I’m absolutely delighted. They came at us really hard at the end. They’re obviously a great team to get to the final and we just managed to hold on. I’d thrown that line, four or five times in the game, so I was pretty confident but obviously with it being for the win you’re always a little on edge. I had the line and the guys swept it through to make it. It is absolutely brilliant.”
Trevor Bonot; Canada skip (after winning the silver medals): “It’ll take a minute to settle in that it’s only silver because we came so close, but I’m still very proud to take a medal home to Canada. We had the belief in our stones to fight back, the ice was a little different from what we had this morning, so we were just trying to get to grips with it. We missed a couple of opportunities early and didn’t capitalise. The whole week they played great, I’m very proud of the team, it was a great run we had there.”
Jaroslav Vedral; Czech Republic skip (after winning the bronze medals): “Winning bronze is unbelievable. It’s an amazing feeling. In the second half, we had to play a brutal offensive game. We had a little luck in the eighth end when Norway made a mistake. We were sitting three so just had to play guards and hope.”
RESULTS medal finals
Gold medal: Scotland 8-5 Canada
Bronze medal: Czech Republic 7-6 Norway
RESULTS Semi-finals
Norway 3-5 Canada; Scotland 6-2 Czech Republic
(Source: WCF)