Swedish Women Repeat as World Champs,defeating the US 10 - 9

Anette Norberg and the Swedish rink defeated Debbie McCormick and the US team by a score of 10-9 to win the 2006 world women's curling championship.

The U.S. gained a big edge in the fourth end, scoring four on a complex double. But they promptly gave up three to the Swedes in the next end, followed by a steal by Sweden to go up by a score of 7 - 5 after six ends. The teams traded deuces for the next three ends, so they were tied, Sweden with the hammer, coming home in the 10th.

According to the curling percentages at CurlCast, the US outcurled Sweden, 81% to 79%. I don't believe it for a minute. Yes, the US made some good shots, but they missed a lot of opportunities as well. I guess some of those big misses by the Swedes really hurt their overall shooting percentages.

Two notes: I know I made lots of predictions throughout the tournament, but here are two that I will herald:

1. It was a no-brainer (though not everyone agreed), but before they started, I picked Sweden to win. They were dominant, even in their close win over the US in the final.
2. I also asserted that the US would be one of the few teams that could challenge Norberg and the Swedish rink.

But we'll forget about all the other predictions and speculations I made that weren't correct ....