BACKS AGAINST THE WALL 

CANADIAN PLAYOFF HOPES ON THE BRINK AT WORLD JUNIORS

The two Canadian teams will have a bit of work to do in their final two games if they are to reach the playoffs at the World Junior Curling Championships in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. 

Both the men’s and women’s squads dropped their fourth game of the week, leaving them out of the playoff picture at the moment. The women, skipped by Allyson MacNutt out of Halifax, dropped the afternoon game to Korea, 7-4. The men, skipped by Kenan Wipf out of Calgary, were bested by first-place Italy, 9-3, in the evening draw. 

Both teams drop to 3-4 records, which puts the men in a three-way tie for fifth with Denmark and Japan. The women are tied for sixth with Norway.  

The women’s team – MacNutt, Maria Fitzgerald, Alison Umlah, Grace McCusker, alternate Cailey Locke, coach Teresa Breen, and team leader Helen Radford – started their afternoon matchup with hammer vs. Korea. 

After blanking the first, they took two in the second, before giving up singles in the third and fourth. After going back and forth for a few more ends, the game was tied playing the tenth, Korea with hammer. 

With a pile of granite in the four-foot, MacNutt’s last tap-freeze attempt missed the mark, and Korea put three on the board for the win.  

The Canadian women still have to face Latvia and Norway. Two wins would take them to 5-4, which would give them a chance to advance. They’d require some help in the way of losses from the top four teams – many of whom play each other in the last two draws. 

The men were tied at 2 after the fourth end, but then Italy slowly but surely pulled away. After two in the fifth, the Italians forced Canada to a single in the sixth end, before scoring a single in the seventh, and another in the eighth. Down three in the ninth, Canada had to play a desperate strategy which involved leaving lots of Italian rocks around in an attempt to score a big end.  

Wipf’s last rock was a triple – maybe a quad? – takeout attempt for a score of two. It was unsuccessful and Italy tallied three more, which led to handshakes. 

Wipf – along with Ky Macaulay, Michael Keenan, Max Cinnamon, alternate Adam Naugler, coach Laine Peters, and coach Derek Bowyer – still have to face Scotland and Japan. Two wins would give them a realistic chance to qualify, although, again, there would be no guarantees as other results would still be a factor. 

For scores and schedules, visit the World Curling site here: https://livescores.worldcurling.org/wjcc/default  

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