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Underway at Aberdeen!
Team Canada mounts comeback against Team Turkey in opener at 2024 World Mixed Curling Championship
The last time Shaun Meachem’s Swift Current, Sask., mixed team lost a game of curling at a national or international level was November 5th, 2023, to Team Nova Scotia’s Paul Flemming, before racking-up eleven straight victories to claim the 2023 national mixed crown.
The 8-6 loss to Flemming’s bluenosers left an impression as the green-clad prairie squadron of skip Shaun Meachem, vice-skip Kelly Schafer, second Chris Haichert, lead Teejay Haichert and coach Pat Simmons, who have proven they prefer to march to the tune of nothing but victory in its wake since.
And despite trailing Team Turkey’s Ilknur Urusan for the better part of its opening match at the 2024 World Mixed Curling Championship at Aberdeen, Scotland, Team Canada was not about to break its winning streak on a rainy morning at Curl Aberdeen; banking a 9-7 win Saturday.
It was closer than comfort might allow. Team Canada trailed 7-3 after seven ends of play before rocking a score of four in the eighth to force an extra.
“Not quite the way we had it drawn up,” said skip Shaun Meachem. “But there’s no room on the scoreboard for a story. We’ll take the win for sure. We played a really strong last few ends.”
Team Canada would ride the momentum of that four-score to a steal of two in the ninth end, claiming a 9-7 victory.
“They played well,” said Meachem of Team Turkey’s performance. “They were putting rocks in tricky spots for us to deal with. We’re still learning the ice a bit and how to make certain shots. It’s slightly straighter than we’re used to playing on right now, but they’ll be working on getting a little more curl into the ice.”
Vice-skip Kelly Schafer echoed those sentiments.
“If I’m being honest, Turkey seemed to have the upper hand in the middle of the game,” said Schafer. “I think it’s just, strategically, figuring out what type of game we can play on the ice.”
Scoring the four in the eighth and penultimate end was a result of sounds fundamentals, says Schafer.
“We played a textbook last eighth end, took a four, and then played a really good extra end. It’s exciting to get that first win on the board and just get all the nerves out of the way.”
Team Canada resumes action at the 2024 World Mixed Curling Championship with a matchup against Team Latvia Sunday at 7 a.m., (all times Eastern).
Matching Team Canada’s opening-draw victory in Group A was Team Czechia’s Krystof Tabery with a 14-3 win over Team Philippines’ Chad Alojipan, Team Latvia’s Kirss Vonda who downed Team England’s Andrew Woolston 5-3, and Team New Zealand’s Brett Sargon who bested Team Hungary’s Balazs Foti 6-1.
Event information, rosters, and draw can be found at https://worldcurling.org/events/worldmixed/.
All sheets and draws of the World Mixed Curling Championship will be available to stream live on The Curling Channel.