First day of two wins for the men of Germany, Norway and Scotland at the World Juniors
First men’s session
The ten men’s teams took to the ice on Sunday morning for the first session of the World Junior Curling Championships, which took place in Jönköping, Sweden.
Defending nation Canada took on the United States, while hosts Sweden played Switzerland. In other matches, Norway faced New Zealand, Germany faced Italy and Scotland faced Korea.
In the North American battle, the United States capitalized on their last-rock advantage in the first end, scoring two goals. Canada responded with a three after a perfectly executed out by their captain, Owen Purcell.
After a failed attempt by USA captain Daniel Casper, Canada stole two in the third.
In the fifth, USA put a three on the board to tie the game at 5-5 before the break.
The leader exchanged hands throughout the second half. In the tenth end, Canada led 10-9 and the United States had the hammer. The Americans took advantage of their last rock advantage, scored two and won the match 11-10.
After their win, Daniel Casper said, “Games like this are fun, we love them. You know, in the world championship, first match, there are a lot of things to understand; ice cream and all. I think that’s probably why there were back and forth, high scores. But it was super fun.
In their match against Sweden, Switzerland scored three goals on the board in the third end to take a 4-1 lead.
Sweden scored three right-backs to tie the game at 4-4.
Going into the eighth inning, Switzerland was leading 6-5. In that end, the Swiss put a big four on the board, after which Sweden conceded defeat with a final score of 10-5.
Ahead of their game against New Zealand, Norway needed to shake up their initial roster as their original captain, Youth Olympic champion Lukas Hoestmaelingen, was unable to make it to the event.
Norway led the game 3-1 after three innings, but a perfect double out by New Zealand captain William Becker gave it a two and a draw after four innings.
Norway broke through in the fifth with a big five to take an 8-3 lead.
They followed that up with a steal of two in the sixth for 10-3. New Zealand responded with a two in eight, but after Norway scored a four in the ninth, New Zealand conceded the match with the final result 14–5.
After their win, Norway captain Grunde Buraas said: “It was good, we started off a bit slow but once we grabbed the ice and got into the rhythm, we really pulled away and it went away. It was just about controlling the play the last three ends when we got the big end. We felt like the big end was coming because we really pressured them from the second end to the end.
Commenting on their new formation, he added: “Since our captain Lukas got sick and couldn’t play, we just tried to do our best.”
Germany and Italy were tied 1-1 after three ends. In the fourth, Italy captain Giacomo Colli missed his attempted draw, giving up a steal of three.
This proved crucial in the game, as only single scores and clean ends were produced later in the match. Eventually, Italy won by 6-2.
After the game, the German team, Benjamin Kapp, said: “We feel very good, we are happy to have won the first game and we expect more. We tried to keep it simple and it worked really well for us.
The match between Scotland and Korea was a back and forth battle throughout. They entered the break tied at 4-4, then tied again after eight hours at 5-5. Scotland scored an important two in the ninth inning to enter the tenth inning with a two-run lead. In the last end, the Scot finally stole a single, making the final score 8-5.
First female session
In the first session of Sunday afternoon’s women’s round robin, home team Sweden played Switzerland, Japan played Korea and Norway took on Denmark. In other matches, the United States faced Latvia and Scotland faced Canada.
It was a two-run game through the first six innings until the Swedish team nipped for four runs to take a 7-1 lead over Switzerland.
Despite stealing runs in innings eight and nine, Switzerland conceded after nine innings, with the final score 7-3 for Sweden.
Sweden captain Moa Dryburgh spoke after the game saying: “It’s really fun to play in our first Junior Worlds. It’s very special to have friends and family cheering us on.
Japan started their match strong against Korea, taking an early lead in the second end with three points. After rallying two points in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh ends, the score was 8-4 for the Japanese team.
Korea managed to steal points in the eighth and ninth ends, but eventually conceded a 9-6 win over Japan.
Norway and Denmark played a close game for all ten innings.
Although Norway led 5-2 at halftime, Denmark responded in the sixth end with a score of three to tie.
Simple point exchanges followed, but with a two in the seventh end and a steal of one more in the eighth, Norway edged Denmark 9-6.
Another close game unfolded between the United States and Latvia.
After eight ends, the score was tied at 6-6.
A few tough misses from the United States allowed Latvia to capitalize on their last-rock advantage to score four points in the ninth end.
Latvia eventually won by 10-6.
Latvian captain Evelina Barone said, “We knew we had to score at least two in the ninth end, and getting four was awesome.
In the fifth game of the session, Scotland faced Canada.
After three ends, the Canadian team held a 5-0 lead, but with a three in the third end and a steal of two more in the fourth, the Scot tied the game.
Scotland’s perseverance continued into the second half of the game, scoring two more runs in the seventh end and a single in the tenth.
This gave Scotland a 9-7 win over Canada.
Second session men
In the evening, it was again the men’s turn to play.
The United States met Scotland, New Zealand played Korea and Canada faced Germany. Switzerland take on Italy, while Sweden and Norway play each other.
Scotland had a solid game against the United States, stealing five straight sets to take a 6-0 lead after six. USA scored a single in the seventh.
Scotland had last-rock advantage for the first time in the eighth end, and they used it to score three. The United States conceded defeat at this stage, with a final score of 9-1.
After their victory, Scotland captain James Craik said: “We are really buzzing after this. We went out, the ice cream was a bit tricky tonight, probably the first evening session may be the reason. But we came out sharp and really ready for it. We had the hammer once and that was in the last end and we made three, and we still managed to score six more shots and force them to make one that was really good. Their captain struggled a bit, but we really didn’t give them much of a chance.
Korea led the match against New Zealand 3-1 after four ends. In the fifth and sixth ends, Korea drove in nine runs in all – with a score of five, followed by a steal of three – for a 12-1 lead after six ends. At this point, New Zealand conceded to make the final score 12-1.
Germany led their game against Canada 3-1 after four ends. Then the Germans stole a single in the fifth and three in the sixth to extend their lead.
Canada scored their second point on the board in the seventh, before conceding the match with a final score of 7-2.
After their victory, German skip Benjamin Kapp said: “We are super happy after the game, very happy with the performance, and we are looking forward to more victories. I think our mentality [made the difference]. We were very happy and proud of ourselves, and we kept it simple and that made it easy for us.
Switzerland and Italy had a close battle throughout the game. They traded the lead five times through the first six ends. After six, Italy led 7-5.
In the seventh, Switzerland tied the game with a score of two.
At the start of the tenth, Italy was leading 9-7. In the tenth, Italy captain, Giacomo Colli made an exceptional double takedown with his last stone to send Switzerland out of stones and make the final score 9-7.
The Nordic game was another tight game. The teams were tied at 3-3 after three ends, then at 4-4 after five.
Sweden led 7-5 going into the tenth inning. To that end, Norway capitalized on their hammer, scored four, and ultimately won the game by two points, 9-7.
Results of the first men’s session: Norway 14-5 New Zealand; Canada 10-11 United States; Germany 6-2 Italy; Scotland 8-5 Korea; Sweden 5-10 Switzerland
Results of the first female session: Japan 9-6 Korea; Switzerland 3-7 Sweden; Canada 7-9 Scotland; Norway 9-6 Denmark; Latvia 10-6 USA
Results of the second men’s session: USA 1-9 Scotland; New Zealand 1-12 Korea; Sweden 7-9 Norway; Switzerland 7-9 Italy; Canada 2-7 Germany.
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