Canada wins despite Einarson errors

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This article was published 16/05/2021 (1087 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kerri Einarson wasn’t satisfied with the numbers from Canada’s opener at the world mixed doubles curling championship Monday in Aberdeen, Scotland.

Except for the ones on the scoreboard.

While the Gimli curler’s shooting statistics were uncharacteristically low, she and partner Brad Gushue from St. John’s, N.L., combined to produce enough quality deliveries to post an 8-6 come-from-behind triumph over Spain.

It was the lone contest of the day for the Canadians, who stole two points in the eighth end against the team of Oihane Otaegi and Mikel Unanue.

Einarson and Gushue face Germany’s Pia-Lisa Schoell and Klaudius Harsch on Tuesday at 3 a.m., followed by meeting with Hungary’s Dorottya Palancsa and Zsolt Kiss at 10 a.m. (broadcast on World Curling TV’s YouTube channel).

The skip of the two-time reigning Scotties women’s championship team curled just 48 per cent, while Gushue finished 30 points ahead to bail them out.

“I struggled with setting up the ends early,” Einarson told the Free Press, by phone. She throws the first and fifth rocks, while Gushue is responsible for the three in between.

“Once I got a handle on the ice a bit more, I started to put my first rock in a better spot. Brad played unbelievable. He made some really clutch shots out there and kept us in the game.”

The 33-year-old mom of twin girls admitted she tried to pump up her own spirits midway through the contest.

“I was kind of talking to myself, just saying, ‘OK, Kerri. Stick with it. Do what you can do out there and be a good teammate and support Brad,'” she said.

Canada surrendered a steal of three in a tire-fire of a first end, and trailed 5-2 at the fourth-end break. Canada erased the deficit in the fifth end. Otaegi was light on a freeze attempt, leaving Einarson an open hit to tie the game.

Canada forced Spain to take a single in the sixth but botched an opportunity for a big end in the seventh and had to settle for a single. Lying two, Canada played a hit but her rock veered inside and ran a guard into the house, jamming on one of their own.

Gushue said in hindsight a draw would have been the right call.

“I think later in the week, when we know what that spot is doing, it’s a whole lot easier of a shot, but we were kind of guessing on the ice,” he said, in an interview with the World Curling Federation.

The hammer then went to Spain. However, Canada poured on the pressure and Unanue had a pitiful final end, leaving Otaegi with a difficult draw that slid heavy.

While Einarson’s precision was a bit wonky, she was no slouch on the broom.

“I think I swept a lot of rocks and held (the line) of a lot of rocks. I may have missed and few shots and not contributed that way, I tried to help in other ways,” she said. “I got out some nerves as well.”

Twenty teams, split into groups of 10, are competing in the week-long event. Only three from each group make the playoffs, scheduled for the weekend.

Einarson and Gushue need to finish in the top seven overall to earn Canada a spot in mixed doubles at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.

The Manitoban felt the weight of that responsibility earlier this month with her four-player women’s team, regrouping from a 1-5 start at the world women’s championship in Calgary to make the playoffs and grab an Olympic berth for the Canada.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell