FIRST WIN FOR CANADA AT YOG 

CANADA turns back BRAZIL BEFORE DROPPING SECOND GAME TO GREAT BRITAIN 

As curling continues to expand to “non-traditional” nations, casual fans are frequently surprised to see certain flags on the leaderboard. Nigeria? Brazil? New Zealand? 

While the championship appearances are great for developing athletes in these countries, the first few attempts are usually pretty punishing on the scoreboard, as they have to compete with long-established teams like Great Britain (Scotland), Sweden, and Canada. 

Such was the case on Saturday at the Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon, South Korea, as an inexperienced Brazil squad faced off against Canada’s Nathan Gray (Dartmouth, N.S.), Chloe Fediuk (Edmonton), Owain Fisher (North River, N.S.), and Allie Iskiw (Edmonton). The Brazilians were outscored 17-1 by South Korea in their first game. 

Their result vs. Canada was similar, as the Canucks pitched a 14-0 shutout to hand Brazil their second loss, but more importantly, post their first win. 

“It feels really good to get a win by Canada’s name,” said Fediuk, who is throwing third. “We came out strong and got a good feeling for the ice.” 

The game started simply enough. Brazil had even won the hammer by virtue of the pre-game Last Shot Draw. Canada stole one in the first, and another in the second. And the train kept rolling. 

More steals of two, three, four, and three gave Canada a 14-0 after six ends, despite never having the last rock advantage. Brazil’s Guilherme Melo decided that was enough and conceded the victory. 

“We played really well as a team and are feeling confident in how we executed.,” said Fediuk.  

The team went back to the athletes’ village for an afternoon rest, and prepared for an evening game vs. Great Britain. 

Unfortunately for the Canadians, the opponent in this battle had a bit more fire power. Britain’s Logan Carson, coming off a morning loss to Germany, would win the matchup by a score of 6-3. 

Team GB gave up a steal to Canada in the first, blanked the second, and allowed another steal in the third. Trailing 2-0, the tides turned in the fourth end with a score of three, and another steal for Great Britain. Now leading 4-2, they held Canada to one in the sixth, and added two more in the seventh.  

The 6-3 lead was enough cushion to run the Canadians out of rocks and secure the win.  

Canada drops to 1-2 in the standings, while Great Britain improved to 2-1. 

The top three teams in the seven-game round-robin will advance to the playoff round. The top two teams will have a bye to the semi-final. 

In an interesting side note, Canada’s Chef-de-Mission at these Games is two-time Olympic curler and 2017 world champion Lisa Weagle. Great Britain’s chief is Eve Muirhead, whose competitive curling career was equally decorated, and punctuated with Olympic gold in 2022. The two long-time rivals sat together and chatted, watching the next generation play on the same ice where they competed in the 2018 Olympic Games. 

Some games are streaming on http://www.youtube.com/olympics and https://olympics.com/en/gangwon-2024/. CBC has daily highlights on http://cbcsports.ca 

Scores, standings, and schedules can be found here: https://livescores.worldcurling.org/