Live-Blogging the 2nd Half of theWomen's Finals of the Canadian Curling Olympic Finals

I have to confess that I'm enjoying the Harris/McClusker commentary. But the Brian Williams and Scott Russell cliches, especially the latter, are worse than annoying. And I am especially offended by Russell's asking questions which contain stupidly obvious answers within them:

How important is this game for you?

Gee, Scott, I think I'd rather go for a beer than be here playing this game....

What a waste of air time. I've done some sportscasting in my day, but I sure hope my sportscasting wasn't as cliche-ridden as that nonsense.

End #6: Harris and McClusker assert (and Scott confirms) that Scott will have to start putting up more guards. But Keshen's first stone slips into the rings, setting up what looked to become another end of hit-and-stick. But both skips set up guards with second's stones, Scott on the corner, Kleibrink on the centre-line. Nixon's first shot was too deep, Schraeder drew behind the guard to the top 4'. Nixon's second rock tapped the shot rock out from behind cover, but it was still shot rock. With her first stone, Scott tried to draw, but ended up freezing, a good outcome. Kleibrink said, "We got to hit and roll," which she did, leaving the rock exposed at the back of the button. Scott tried a hit and roll, but was outside; her shooter rolled to the 8' and the Kleibrink stone jammed on a red, leaving Kleibrink with draw to her own as backing to score 2.

Kleibrink 5, Scott 3

End #7: Bakker, Kleibrink's second missed two peels, as did Nixon with her first stone. Scott was set up to score a couple, but Nixon made a decent hit-and-roll. With skips' stones to come, Scott had two in the rings, Kleibrink had one. Kleibrink tried to hit and roll over to freeze against her own rock, but rolled open onto the button. Scott hit that stone and rolled, but not behind cover. She was behind the t-line setting up either a freeze or double. Kleibrink went for the double, which Harris thought was the more difficult shot; she got only one. Scott had a hit for two.

Scott 5, Kleibrink 5

End #8: Scott started with a guard, Kleibrink came around, and the result was a bunch of rocks in the rings. Nice double by Bakker, and Carter (Scott's 2nd) hit and rolled into the open; but then Bakker hit and stuck, setting up a double for Schraeder (Scott's 3rd), who instead hit and rolled to the button, frozen against a yellow stone. Beautiful shot. Followed by a neato smash by Nixon, removing a bunch of stones. And then a great draw by Scott was followed by a missed shot by Kleibrink who hit and stuck on a guard, not removing either the guards or the two reds in the rings. Scott put up a tight guard, and so Kleibrink had to hit one and give up a steal of one.

Scott 6, Kleibrink 5

End #9: Terrific hit and roll by Carter gave Scott the advantage, followed by a tiny rub by Bakker on that rock. Scott had a guard on the centre line plus 3 of the four lined up behind that tight guard. Kleibrink calls for a smash and grab, but Bakker hit it off the nose for just a straight peel.

GEEZ!! The CBC directors love to focus on faces and show graphics while the game is on. Show us the rocks!!

Nixon mixed up the rocks a bit. And with her second stone almost tripled. But Scott was still in good position, removing the only Kleibrink stone in the rings and not leaving an easy double. Kleibrink, facing three went for a raise double, but got only one. With her last rock, Scott put up a guard. Kleibrink tried to draw against two, and just missed, giving up a steal of one.

Scott 7, Kleibrink 5

End #10: An early "miss" by Keshen (lead for Scott) left her rock as a guard instead of in the rings, which set up the Kleibrink rink to score two. Advantage Kleibrink after the leads' stones.

Carter rubbed and froze, but that set up a hit and roll by Bakker (plan C on that shot, but truly horrible). Kleibrink had Nixon try a hit-and-roll, but Harris and McClusker disapproved of the choice. She rolled to the back corner of the 12', which was better than other possibilities. Schraeder hit and rolled out. Nixon's draw was tight to the guard and had to be swept, but that dragged it too deep, allowing Scott an opportunity to freeze. She rubbed on shot stone, setting up a pick for Kleibrink, leaving her sitting three and putting Scott in deep doo-doo.

For having started out defensive and boring, this match has turned out to be really exciting. Scott led by two, coming into the 10th, and suddenly Kleibrink looked set to score three. On her last rock, Scott drew to the button against three. Kleibrink had an open nose hit to win and did! Man-oh-man-oh-man! What a finish!

Kleibrink 9, Scott 7

I think she scored four, but, of course, CBC didn't show the rings and didn't tell us. I sure wish TSN had the whole bundle. Harris and McClusker are good and informative, but the directors at CBC are truly horrible. I see CBC shows the score as 8 to 7, but I think they're mistaken.

All things considered, I thought Scott's team out-curled and was better than Kleibrink's team by some margin, but the score didn't show it. It'll be interesting to see what the curling stats show.