Rock-throwers land in ‘Granite City’

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This article was published 13/05/2021 (1077 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kerri Einarson and Brad Gushue are doing a lot of walking and talking in the striking Scottish city of Aberdeen as they prepare for the start of the 2021 world mixed doubles curling championship.

Regrettably, the talented rock-throwers are seeing almost none of the “Granite City,” known for its old stone buildings and stunning architecture. They won’t visit its vibrant parks and gardens, historic distilleries, busy harbourfront or golden beaches along the North Sea.

Instead, they take 25-minute strolls, three times a day, in an area akin to a basketball court near their hotel.

“Same view all the time … we do circles but it’s nice. It’s fresh air,” the quarantining Einarson said with a giggle, during a Zoom chat with reporters Friday. The affable resident of Camp Morton — a lakeside community just north of Gimli — is making her first visit to Scotland, while Gushue, a former Olympic and world champion from St. John’s, N.L., has been here many times before.

Sight-seeing is definitely out, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and the strict rules in place for curlers, coaches and officials inside the competitive bubble in Aberdeen.

The Canadians aren’t in tourist mode, anyway. Their sole aim — beginning Monday morning with an opening test against Spain — is the pursuit of the country’s first-ever world mixed doubles title.

“I’m definitely grateful I get another opportunity to represent Canada. Not a whole lot of people get to say they did it twice in a month,” said Einarson. “I’m really looking forward to putting that Maple Leaf back on my back, walking out on that ice and doing what I love to do.”

The 33-year-old skip’s regular four-player team, the two-time reigning national Scotties winner — participated in the world women’s championship in the Calgary bubble, finishing with a 7-6 round-robin record and nailing down a 2022 Olympic berth for Canada before losing to Sweden in a qualifying game exactly a week ago.

“Just getting that experience, getting that feel of it. That was the first time we ever represented Canada, so it was a bit stressful, but we were so grateful for the opportunity,” said Einarson, noting she leaned on Gushue, virtually, for support. “I reached out to Brad when I was having a little bit of struggles and he gave us a boost of confidence in the bubble, so I appreciated that.”

Gushue and Einarson expect to follow an exact replica of a game plan successfully executed for the Canadian mixed playdowns in late March. The duo defeated the all-Manitoba team of Colton Lott and Kadriana Sahaidak in the national final at WinSport Arena.

“In Calgary, it worked because we had so much fun,” explained Gushue. “Kerri came off a stressful week having won the Scotties and, obviously, had her eye on the worlds. To jump into the mixed doubles and go super intense wasn’t going to be beneficial for her. Certainly, for me it was kind of the same way. We had come off what I would consider a disappointing performance at the Brier and just wanted to keep it light.

“Our skill level is pretty high and we have to find a way to let that come across on the ice. We’re not going to out-sweep any teams but we can certainly out-shoot teams, so that’s kind of the goal.”

In mixed doubles, a stone from each side is positioned in play each end, and five rocks are then delivered by each team. Einarson will deliver the first and fifth stones, while Gushue will toss the three stones in between.

Rock positioning is essential and can generate some big offensive swings.

“You have to be quick and you have to be aggressive, and that was an adjustment (in their first national championship together). After a few games of making some mistakes, we caught on pretty quick,” said Gushue. “There’s so many different situations you can face. I think we’re such good shooters we might be able to get away with (the wrong call) occasionally.”

The team is coached by Scott Pfeifer and Heather Nedohin.

The championship field of 20 teams is split into groups of 10, with teams playing nine round-robin contests Monday through Friday. Six teams in all will make the playoffs next weekend. The top seven teams earn Olympic berths for their respective nations.

Canada’s pool includes Australia, Czech Republic, Spain, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Korea, the Russian Curling Federation and host Scotland. The second group includes China, England, Estonia, Finland, Japan, Norway, New Zealand, Switzerland, Sweden and the United States.

Canada has earned three consecutive trips to the podium, including a silver medal in 2017 (Joanne Courtney and Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers), a bronze in 2018 (Laura Walker and Kirk Muyres) and a silver two years ago Winnipeg’s Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant).

The 2020 event, scheduled for Kelowna, B.C., was cancelled owing to the pandemic.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell