Practice Helps - Just Ask Finland

Well, nuts. If we had known that the Finnish team has not been curling all that much during the past year, we probably wouldn't have picked them to finish among the leaders. After two draws, Finland is 0W - 2L, and has not looked all that good in their losses. The losses were not blow-outs, and as a team Finland is curling 78%, ranked 8th among the twelve teams. And the skip, Markku Uusipaavalniemi, has curled only 68%, 11th among the skips.

I expect that as the team plays through the round robin, they will improve. But not being well-practiced appears to have hurt the team.

[Of course I am generalizing from personal experience: I've discovered that when I curl three times a week, I'm better than when I curl only twice a week. I curl 20% instead of only 16%.]