Japan steals semifinal win from Canadian women at 2022 Pan Continental Curling Championships

Japan’s Team Satsuki Fujisawa is moving onto the gold-medal game at the 2022 Pan Continental Curling Championships after stealing away a victory from Canada’s Team Kerri Einarson on Saturday afternoon at the WinSport Event Centre.

Third-seed Japan’s late-game resurgence provided just enough to allow the reigning Olympic silver medallists with a come-from-behind 6-5 victory against second-seed Canada’s team from Gimli, Man.

Tied at five apiece but without hammer, Japan stole a point in the 10th end to advance to the women’s inaugural gold-medal game.

“Just not the finish that we wanted in nine or 10. We just didn’t get our rocks in the right spot, and they did,” Canada vice-skip Val Sweeting said. “It was really close, and we fought hard.” 

Skip Einarson, vice-skip Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard and lead Briane Harris attempted a thin angle raise on their last shot of the game with hopes of scoring the one point needed for the win. The raised stone connected with one of Japan’s counters but didn’t stick around the four-foot, which gave Japan the win.

Neither team managed to convert and score more than one point with hammer until the ninth end. Leading by three, Canada jammed a double attempt on its final shot. It left Japan with a hit for three to tie the game.

Until then, Canada – backed by alternate Rachel Brown, coach Reid Carruthers and national coach Renée Sonnenberg – controlled the game and had capitalized on steals of one in the third and eighth ends. 

The loss puts Canada into the bronze-medal game against top-seeded Team Tabitha Peterson of the United States on Sunday at 1 p.m. (all times Mountain). (NOTE: Game will only be streamed on TSN.ca and TSN app)

“I think there were some opportunities on both sides, and it was a good game. They’re a really good team, and it’s always a lot of fun to play them. This one is going to sting for a little bit, but we’re going to regroup and come out firing tomorrow,” Sweeting said.

Canada’s only loss during the round robin was against the Americans, meaning Canada is expecting another tough match-up.

Japan will take on fourth-seed Team South Korea’s Team Seungyoun Ha in the gold-medal game at 6 p.m. on Sunday. 

South Korea defeated the U.S. 11-4 in the second semifinal game.

Canadian men’s Team Brad Gushue will play in the gold-medal game after a Saturday morning win against Japan. The team takes on South Korea’s Team Byeongjin Jeong on Sunday at 9 a.m. (all times Mountain).

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2022 Pan Continental Curling Championships are available by clicking here. 

TSN and RDS2 will provide coverage of select games from the 2022 Pan Continental Curling Championships. Click here for the full schedule.

For ticket information for the 2022 Pan Continental Curling Championships, click here. 

This story will be available in French as soon as possible here.