2009 Ford Worlds, Draw #5: Canada vs. China 4th and 5th Ends

We might have a bit of a struggle soon. Tonight is also the opening game for major league baseball, which Ms. Eclectic and I would also like to watch.

Fashion comment: I really like those Team China curling jackets. Love those bright colours!!

End #4: Canada starts, as usual, having Hebert (lead) put rocks on the centre line in the rings just short of the t-line. Zang (CH lead) put up a corner guard, but drifted into the rings with his 2nd stone. Kennedy (2nd) tried to hit and roll, but left his shooter exposed. Xu doubled off the two Cdn stones on the centre line. A series of nose hits down the middle in the rings, with both teams trying to hit and roll but remaining exposed. Morris tried a hit and roll, but rolled out. So Wang drew around a corner guard to lie one, but it was a bit deep. Martin tapped it back to lie two, which will likely force China to draw or tap for one. Liu taps Martin's rock back to lie one. Then Martin taps/freezes Liu's rock to lie one. Liu draws for the single.
Canada 4, China 2

End #5: it looks as if China set up two center-line guards, but the commentators tell us that one was a big mistake: it was supposed to be a come-around freeze that came up short. Meanwhile Canada has two rocks in the centre behind what are now three Chinese rocks on the centre line serving as guards. Kennedy's first shot hung out a bit, but Xu couldn't quite tap it the right way, so Kennedy came down with a beautiful tap out, leaving Canada lying 4.

Wang tried to freeze but was waaayyyy light, so now China has 4 rocks serving as guards on the centre line, and China has four rocks in the middle of the rings. What a strange picture!
Morris put up a long guard on the centre line to keep China from raising any of their guards (in my view, doing that would be hard anyway). Wang tried a tricky shot that would have required maxi-weight, but ended up weakly removing one guard. Morris puts up another guard. Wang threw a tight take-out to double out two of Canada's rocks -- beautiful shot, given the circumstances. Martin hits and rolls to lie three. So Liu again has to make a magical shot. He was really, really close, but took out only one of Canada's stones. Pretty much an open draw for three.

A question in the comments about the high scoring on some of the sheets. The TSN commenters say it is NOT the ice. Rather it looks as if the houses are often full of rocks and then the skips are missing some key shots. Take a look at the CurlCast shooting percentages, and you can see that some of the skips are really struggling.

Canada 7, China 2 at the halfway break. Time for some dessert!