Oh Canada!

What a shocker! Denmark 11, Canada 9. In reality it wasn't even that close. Denmark stole 7 points in 2 ends. Full marks to Denmark, who is now tied with Canada for 4th place at 6-4. China is 5-4, so they could be tied after this afternoon's draw. Denmark plays Norway this afternoon, and Canada plays Norway tonight. Kelly Scott's rink has to win to assure no worse than a tie-breaker. A loss could mean they're gone.

What happened? Well, I think the pressure may be intensifying for Canada. This morning they played an 18 year old skip (Madelaine Dupont) who is playing in her 6th world or Olympic competition representing Denmark. That's way more international experience than anyone in Canada other than Colleen Jones and Randy Ferbey has. Throw in European Championships, and this rink has a lot of international experience.

This double whammy of little international experience and heavy favourite makes it tough to keep your hopes up when things go bad. Still, after going to the Olympic Trials finals and winning the Scott Tournament of Hearts, Canada should be battle tough. They'd better be, because no one has more international experience than Dordy Nordby of Norway. Norway has an outside shot, so she could be extra tough.

Well, it's time to prepare for our semifinal playoff game. We're playing a tough team tonight (as we do every week). The opponent's skip was our fifth player, and filled in as skip when we were short a player. He's arguably the best player at our club. I'm hoping this makes him overconfident. We'll see.

Regards,
Steve