Playoff spot for Canada at World Wheelchair Curling Championships

BEIJING – Canada scored three points in the seventh end to defeat Latvia 6-2 and clinch a berth in the playoff round on Thursday as round robin play concluded at the 2021 World Wheelchair Curling Championships.

Going into the day, the Canadians were tied for the sixth and final playoff spot with Norway. The Norwegians lost an earlier match to China then fell to Sweden while Canada was playing Latvia.

“I think we are at the point in the tournament where we control our own destiny,’’ said Canada’s skip Mark Ideson. ‘’We needed to win our last couple to give ourselves a chance at the playoffs. Latvia gave us a good game, but we’re happy to get that win.’’

Canada blanked the first end and scored a single point in the second end. They stole one point in the third when Latvia’s fourth player Agris Lasmans wasn’t successful with his double take-out attempt. 

Latvia scored its first point of the game in the fourth and the teams went into the half-time break with Canada leading by a score of 2-1. 

In the fifth and sixth ends, the teams exchanged single points to make the score 3-2 for Canada.

In the seventh, Canada put several stones in play and broke the game open leaving Latvia little chance for a comeback in the eighth and final end.

In its last round robin game, Canada overcame a 6-3 deficit to win 7-6 over Italy. The Canadians take fifth spot in the round robin standings with a 7-4 record finishing with four straight victories. Scotland snuck into the sixth spot ousting Norway from the playoff picture. China was first at 9-2 followed by the Russian Curling Federation, Sweden and the U.S. all at 8-3. 

‘’One of the themes of the week is to try not to get ourselves into too much trouble,’’ said Ideson. ‘’So we just tried to be patient and wait for our opportunities and take advantage of them when we can.”

The players for Canada against Latvia were Ideson, who throws lead rock, Ina Forrest, Dennis Thiessen and last shot Jon Thurston. Against Italy, Collinda Joseph replaced Thiessen.

In its first playoff game, Canada faces the U.S. on Friday with a berth in the semifinals on the line. In the round robin the Americans defeated Canada 6-4 in the tournament opener.

For more information about the 2021 World Wheelchair Curling Championship, including scores, schedules and team lineups, go to: worldcurling.org/events/wwhcc2021/

With files from the World Curling Federation