Canada Wins 8-4 in 9 Ends!Team Canada Is the New World Champion!

Team Canada, skipped by Kelly Scott, won the 2007 Women's World Curling Championship, defeating Denmark by a score of 8 - 4.

Canada led 4-3 at the midpoint of the game but then stole one in the 6th, and two more in the 7th, to lead 7-3. Canada then forced Denmark to take one in the 8th and then scored one in the 9th to lead by four, and Denmark conceded.

The final score does not fully represent the shooting, though. Denmark shot 76%, while Canada shot 75%. For more details on shooting percentages, see this site (I have no idea how long it will be available).

Canada-Denmark 9th End - Canada is the Champion

Canada is naturally just trying to keep the end fairly clean, though there are now two Danish centre guards, after Canada fails to clear as planned. Denise DuPont puts a rock nicely behind those guards, and Scott has Schrader clear one of the guards (and her own rock, which does disappear).

Denmark put up another centre guard, very nicely, and Scott calls for a time-out.

Scott draws to the button but is open for Madeleine DuPont who bumps her own rock in the 8-foot. Scott has shot rock sitting behind two Danish rocks. Scott takes one in the end, missing a draw for two, but she leads sufficiently that Denmark concede.

Kelly Scott has her world championship, after lots of grief in her career. CBC say she is the first junior champion to win the World Championships. Well, things I did not know!

Canada-Denmark 8th End

Joan McCusker points out that Denmark were similarly down four rocks late against Scotland yesterday, and came back to win. Those DuPonts can be very effective.

But at the moment Canada is cleaning Danish rocks out of the house; there are four Canada rocks now in the house, all ibut one n front of the T-line. No Danish rocks are to be found anywhere in play. Denmark tosses a rock into the house, and Sacha Carter removes it, and, even better, the one Canadian rock behind the T-line.

Denmark try to freeze to Canada's shot rock in the 4-foot, but there is separation and Canada clears that rock with no problem. It is a crowded house with many Canadian rocks, but it is not clear how Denmark can exploit this. Denmark put a rock in the front of the house (removing two Canadian rocks), and Scott, very aggressively, draws into the four-foot behind the Danish rock.

Madeleine DuPont makes a tremendous shot, removing two Canadian rocks from the four-foot, and ending up shot, and behind the cover of one Danish rock and a Canadian rock. Who are these DuPonts?

Scott makes an utterly perfect run-back, and clears the Danish shot rock.

Madeleine DuPont is forced to draw for one, which she barely makes. Canada 7-4 with the hammer.

World Championships Final - 7th End

I am luckily awake as the CBC is broadcasting the Canada-Denmark match. Canada is up 5-3 after a delicate steal of 1 in the 6th end. We are down to Kelly Scott and Medeleine DuPont's rocks. Scott places her first rock in the house to lie 2 unprotected, but not offering a double. DuPont hits and removes the Scott rock, and Scott's response is likely to at least permit the possibility of two for Denmark.

Scott rolls perfectly behind cover. Her shot is simply superb. DuPont really has only a draw for one, and it is not trivial. Wow - is she only 19? She comes up short - it's a steal of at least one for Scott, and maybe a measure for the second. It is two for Canada. After 7 ends, it is 7-3 Canada.

Canada Leads Denmark 4-3 after 5 Ends

I set my alarm for 1am this morning so Ms. Eclectic and I could get up to watch the 2007 Women's World Curling Championship match between Canada and Denmark. To put it mildly, Canada had blown Denmark away in the their first two meetings, but after Denmark's come-from-behind victory over Scotland, Denmark was looking stronger than they had in their previous three games, all of which they had lost.

Canada started strong, taking two with the hammer. Then each team forced the other to take one. In the fourth end, Denmark took two with the hammer, and then Denmark forced Canada to take just one on a good tap up in the fifth. Overall, as the CBC commentators have emphasized, Kelly Scott has saved the Canadian bacon in almost every end.

So going into the sixth end, Canada leads 4-3, but Denmark has the hammer.

CBC Coverage Sucks Again!3 Lead Stones Not Shown in Each End

Thanks for almost nothing, CBC. Here we are in the fourth end of the 2007 Women's Worlds, and we still haven't seen the first three lead stones of any end. CBC is too friggin' busy showing too many commercials. And then, when they go back live to Japan, they point the camera somewhere other than the ice while Don blathers about something from a prepared script.

btw, even though Canada is leading going into the fourth, Denmark is looking pretty darned good.

Denmark and Canada Face Each Other in Finals

After Team Canada demolished Denmark in the page 1-2 playoffs by a score of 11-3, Denmark took on Scotland in the Bronze Medal game. Scotland took an early lead, scoring three in the third end and leading 5-1 after the fourth end. But Scotland stopped making so many shots, and Denmark started making more shots, stealing two in the 8th end, 1 in the 9th, and two more in the 10th, to defeat Scotland 9-6.

After watching today's game, I have to say that Team Canada's chances look pretty good in the finals (1am EDT on CBC).

Open Letter to CBC Sports

Please please PLEASE add the Canada-Denmark matchup in the page 1-2 playoffs at the 2007 Women's World Curling Championship to your broadcast schedule. At this point, I don't even care if you have to add it on Country Canada (which I have not watched since your last curling debacle); please, you will have the announcers and crew there anyway. Just have them do two games on Saturday.

Televising the Playoffs from the Women's Worlds -- Has the CBC Done It Again?

According to this site, Team Canada will play Denmark in the 1-2 playoff at 2am EST on Saturday. But even though they will have a crew in place, is CBC televising the game? Nope. They will, however, be televising the bronze metal game at 7am which, if Canada defeats Denmark in the 1-2 playoff, will not feature Team Canada.

I guess by televising the last two games, given Team Canada's record, CBC is guaranteed to be showing Team Canada at least once. Too bad they won't be showing 1-2 playoff on Saturday morning. And too bad we in Canada cannot even pay to watch that game on the NBC sports internet service.

Canada to Face Denmark in the 1-2 Playoff

After suffering its only defeat in the round-robin, Team Canada still finished first, well ahead of the other teams in the 2007 Women's World Championships. Kelly Scott's rink will face Denmark at 3pm Saturday, which works out to something like 1am or 2am Eastern Daylight Time in Canada.

This game should go fairly smoothly for Team Canada. Denmark lost its last two games of the round robin to finish 8 - 3 to Canada's 10-1 when Denmark's second had to return to Denmark to write university exams. Team Canada is not guaranteed a win against Denmark, but when the teams met in the round robin, Canada soundly defeated Denmark by a score of 8-1 in just six ends.

Four Steals in a Row by Scotland Hands Canada Its First Loss

In the final round robin game of the 2007 Women's World Championships, Scotland defeated previously unbeaten Team Canada 7 - 5. Canada led 5-2 after five ends, and then Scotland was forced to take one in the sixth end, handing the hammer back to Canada.

Canada appeared to be well-set from then on, but Scotland stole one point in each of the final four ends, beating Canada and spoiling its otherwise unblemished record.

Canada Defeats Denmark 8 - 1Denmark Concedes After Just Six Ends

In the penultimate game of the 2007 Women's World Championship round robins, Kelly Scott's Team Canada defeated Denmark by a score of 8 -1, stealing 3 in the 3rd end and scoring three more in the fifth end, and administering the coup de grace by stealing one more in the sixth.

The win maintains Canada's perfect record: 10W and no losses, dropping Denmark to 8W and 2L, still clinging to second place, a half game ahead of Scotland in the standings.

For me, an academic, one of the interesting aspects of the game with Denmark was this, which I managed to grab from the worldcurling.org page:

Last year, Denmark's Jensen had to leave the competition early due to health concerns. Her team battled valiantly without her, losing the final round-robin game to finish 6-5 and one win away from tiebreakers.

This year, another Dane will be departing early. Second Camilla Jensen, Angelina's sister, leaves Friday to write a critical university exam back home. She is now out of the starting lineup with two round-robin matches left to play.

"It's my whole education, so sadly I must go," said Jensen. "So let's go Denmark, let's get those Olympic points."

Almost anywhere in North America, we'd have let her defer her exam; but then we don't have such massive exams either.

Canada goes to 6W, 0L at Women's Worlds

Kelly Scott's rink defeated home-country Japan by a score of 8 - 3 to lead the Women's World Curling championships with 6 wins and no losses. Close behind Canada are Denmark at 5W, 1L and the US and Scotland with 4W, 2L.

Team Canada appears to be dominating the championship, but there are several other teams (US, Scotland, Denmark) that are doing well; and don't rule out Sweden or Japan or China just yet.

Too bad we can't see these games. Please! Please! does anyone know how to watch the games via broadband over the internet??

Following the Women's Worlds via the Internet

For those of you who want to follow the Women's Worlds from Japan, the Canadian Curling Association has a link to end-by-end scoring which is automatically updated every five minutes on your computer. Click here and then over in the box on the upper right, click on "Live Scores -- Detailed".

Women's Worlds Update

Team Canada skipped by Kelly Scott jumped off to a 2-0 record after the first day of competition, defeating Switzerland 7- 4 and Germany 9-1.

It is disappointing that no one is telecasting these games to Canada. I'm especially puzzled that TSN didn't send a crew there to do at least one game per day. Fortunately for us addicts, CBC will televise the semi-finals on Saturday morning (March 24th) at 7am and the finals on Sunday morning at 1am. If you know of any site from Japan, Europe, or China that might be telecasting the round robin via broadband please let us know!

Also at 2W and no losses are the USA, Sweden, and Japan. The USA and Sweden are very strong teams, and as I recall, Japan did better than expected at the Olympics and might be in the hunt at the worlds this year.

Meanwhile for some information about how each of the teams is doing, click here. And for lines scores from each round, click here.