Canadian teams remain unbeaten at 2024 World Senior Championships

OESTERSUND, Sweden — A perfect opening weekend has been completed for the Canadian contingent at the 2024 World Senior Curling Championships.

Both Team Susan Froud of Alliston, Ont., and Team Paul Flemming of Halifax, earned victories Sunday at the Oestersund Arena to improve to 2-0.

In women’s action, Team Froud (vice-skip Kerry Lackie, second Kristin Turcotte, lead Julie McMullin, alternate Jo-Ann Rizzo, and coach Al Corbeil round out the team) looked closer to the form it showed en route to winning gold at the 2023 Everest Canadian Senior Championships in December in Vernon, B.C., turning back Team Lithuania, skipped by Virginija Paulauskaite (1-1), 6-3.

No doubt, another good sleep and another day getting used to being Team Canada at the World Championship helped.

“It was a lot more comfortable,” agreed Lackie. “All four of us were more engaged with the ice conditions and the ice-reading. And the communication was much better clear, concise, lots of back and forth.”

The Canadians didn’t have last-rock advantage to open the game, but successfully took control early, forcing Lithuania to a single in the second end after a blanked first, and then scoring three in the third.

Were it not for the efforts of Paulauskaite, Canada would have padded the lead significantly; she made a series of wonderful draws to neutralize potential multi-point Canadian steals. Canada’s pressure, though, would pay off with a deuce in the fifth end and a steal of one in the sixth, and the end result wasn’t in doubt from there.

“Historically, the first game in a competition has not been our best,” said Lackie. “And so the fact that we did not have our best game yesterday and still came up with the win was kind of a bit of a bonus for us. So today we just regrouped and listened to what the coach had to say, and we brought it all together. But obviously, there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

And that work continues Monday at 2 p.m. (all times Eastern) as Canada takes on Japan’s Team Miyako Yoshimura (2-0) in an early showdown of unbeaten teams.

The Canadian men, meanwhile, jumped out to a big early lead and were able to sail home with an 11-4 triumph over Team Andrew Tanner of Wales (0-2).

Flemming, alongside vice-skip Peter Burgess, second Martin Gavin, lead Kris Granchelli and alternate Kevin Ouellette, used last-rock advantage to score three in the first end, and added a steal of three in the second and never looked back.

Still, suggested Burgess, the Canadian team is not clicking on all cylinders.

“We’re getting wins and the ice is good, but we’re still trying to figure it out a little bit — how to play those finesse shots,” he said. “So, yeah, it’s good that we got two wins and we’re figuring it out, but still lots of room for improvement.”

Like the rest of the Canadian crew, Burgess is playing with a Maple Leaf on his back for the first time, and while he had family members to ask for advice — his brother Craig won the World Junior Men’s title in 1987 while his niece Karlee is a three-time World Junior Women’s gold-medallist as well as Youth Olympics champion — he’s finding that it has to be experienced in person to get a grip on what it means.

“Yeah, it’s a different thing,” he said. “I mean, I’ve had the Nova Scotia emblem on my back a few times, but this is a different level. There’s expectation and everybody’s looking at you because Canada has that reputation. So there’s pressure but I don’t think we’re feeling it. To be honest, it’s great to have. I’d rather have this Maple Leaf on my back than anything else because it gives you a little bit energy, right?”

The Canadian men are back on the ice Monday at 6 a.m. against Finland’s Team Mika Kalpamaa (1-1).

For Team Canada updates, go to www.curling.ca. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

For the list of teams, draw information and live scoring, visit the event website, worldcurling.org/events/worldseniors/

The French version of this story will be posted as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/?lang=fr.