Draw #9: Additional Commentary

The US scored another two against Czech Republic in the 6th end. My guess is that if the US steals in the 7th, that will be the end of the game. Meanwhile, SU stole one from Norway in the 6th and forced Norway to take one in the 7th as the Norway team continues its skid.

On Sheet D, the Czechs scored only one against the US but still shook hands, conceding an 8-4 victory by the US. That just doesn't seem right to me. Only 4, with two ends to go. I guess I can understand it, given they hadn't been curling very well and given they didn't have the hammer going into the 9th end, but it still seemed like less of a gimme for the US than the Czechs were conceding.

Norway scored only one in the 9th and conceded. Not surprising, the way they've been playing. SU 7, NO 4.

At one point Germany was up 6-3 over Sweden, but then SW scored two and stole another to tie it up going into the ninth end.

Scotland blanked the 8th end against China, but they won't be able to do so in the 9th end; the rings are loaded with rocks at the far end of the ice. As you might readily imagine, I am so intrigued that China can be playing Scotland so tough when their curling percentages are considerably lower. One explanation might be that Ji (Skip, China) is curling okay, and Brewster (Skip, Scotland) is curling about the same, which is not so good as he usually curls.

But in the 9th, Ji couldn't quite tick/tap a rock up and rather than risk a mistake, Brewster threw his own last rock away, scoring two (eschewing a draw for three).

Another exciting time-clock situation for China: they have only 5:19 remaining, going into the 10th end, and they need slow rocks to set up guards. And to start things off, the China lead chewed up lots of time with a very slow rock that the sweepers couldn't drag across the hog line. So now Scotland will just keep the ice clean and run China out of rocks. It was a good game and close, right up through the 9th end.

On Sheet C, Sweden made life very difficult for Germany such that Kapp had to throw his last rock through the rings, hoping that a measurement would show Germany scored one. He was right, so we move to an extra end in that game.

An easy draw for one for Sweden with the hammer. What a letdown for Germany. It's almost fortuitous, but fortunately neither Sweden nor Germany is playing this afternoon --- the afternoon draw begins in less than two hours!