The morning victory with 8-5 over Germany gave the host country a record of 8-3 with one game remaining overnight against the Czech Republic (2-8). “We just showed a lot of seriousness,” Einarson said. “We just got into the round and we still are, but we’re getting better.” Japan with three players who lost their afternoon game against South Korea due to COVID-19 suddenly finished the picture of the playoffs with two draws remaining. Switzerland (11-0), Canada and Sweden (8-3), South Korea (7-3) and Denmark and the United States (7-4) would be the top six teams to continue competing for a world title regardless of the rest of Friday’s results. Defending champion Silvana Tirinzoni won one of two farewells in Saturday’s semifinals. The other was still in the game between Canada, South Korea and Sweden. Members of the Japanese team tested positive for COVID-19 in the morning rapid tests, the World Curling Federation said in a statement. The WCF did not recognize these players. Japan were third behind Seina Nakajima and substitute Chiaki Matsumura in an 11-3 defeat by the Swiss that reduced the Japanese to 6-5. Japan, whose three players wore masks on Friday, was the second of 13 countries to be blocked by the virus. Scotland withdrew on the second day after its team members tested positive. Einarson, third Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard and leader Briane Meilleur of the Gimli Curling Club in Manitoba qualified for the playoffs for the second year in a row, but their path to Prince George was less difficult. They opened 1-5 before winning six of their last seven to reach the last place of the playoffs in Calgary last year. Einarson lost a qualifier there to miss the semifinals. The Canadians won 2-2 at the opening weekend at Prince George before winning five straight, including losing to Scotland. “Definitely much less stressful,” Einarson said. “We have played much better as a team. I have a good grip on the ice and the girls fly very well, so it definitely makes my job easy.” Canada rebounded from an 8-7 loss to an extra goal from South Korea last night when Einarson gave up a steal in the 10th and 11th. The hosts had 92 percent shooting accuracy against 84 of Germany in front of a tournament with 1,728 spectators on Friday at the CN Center. Einarson had complained about the analysis after the fight for the defeat by EunJung Kim last night. “I said” we do not need to talk about this game. “We know what happened and we can park it,” said the skip. “And then (we) had a drink and played a marble game.” Both Einarson and Sweeting returned to form with 92 and 98 percent, respectively, against Germany’s Daniela Jentsch. Einarson’s relentless campaigns did not allow the Germans to prepare for a great end. Instead of a safe draw against two German stones at the seventh end for a single point, Einarson opted for a tough double hit to score two for a 7-3 lead. “I felt very confident throwing this shot,” he said. Canadian leagues include tie-break games if teams are at a dead end for the playoff final, but world leagues are not. If two countries draw on Friday, the winner of the round match is ranked higher. If three or more teams are tied, the record of the matches between them provides sowing. If this does not resolve the impasse, the average distance of all pre-match draws that determine which team will get the hammer is used for ranking. Canada defeated the Swedes in the qualifying round, but the away defeat by South Korea was costly in Canada’s hopes of reaching the semifinals. Sweden’s last match in the round match was against Norway (5-6) on Friday afternoon. South Korea finished with Turkey (1-9) tonight. This Canadian Press Report was first published on March 25, 2022.
