Three in a row!

Team Canada collects third consecutive win downing Team Hungary at 2024 World Mixed Curling Championship

A calm, cool and collected effort landed Team Canada its third straight win at the 2024 World Mixed Curling Championship, defeating Team Hungary’s Gabor Ezsol (1-2) 6-2 on Monday. 

The win keeps Team Canada’s record unblemished at 3-0, maintaining pace with Team New Zealand’s Brett Sargon (3-0), the only other undefeated team in Pool A at Curl Aberdeen, Scotland. 

“Came away with another win today over a very good Hungary team,” said second Chris Haichert. “It’s nice to move to 3-0 but certainly there are plenty of round robin games left to play. Definitely some good curling teams out there.” 

While Monday’s win was in contrast to the high-flying offensive performance that Team Canada enjoyed in its 19-1 win over Team Turkey’s Ilknur Urusan on Sunday, the steady effort paid dividends. 

Patience was paramount in the victory. Team Canada, composed of skip Shaun Meachem, vice-skip Kelly Schafer, second Chris Haichert and lead Teejay Haichert and coach Pat Simmons of Swift Current, Sask., elected to blank the first two ends with hammer to better weigh its opportunities for a multiple score. 

The balanced approach landed Team Canada a score of two in the third end, followed by a steal of a single to lead 3-0 at the fourth-end break. 

Team Hungary would strike back with a two of its own in the fifth end, but it’s as close as it would get. Team Canada wouldn’t blink, securing another blank in the sixth before landing the game’s knock-out blow in the seventh with a score of three, marking a 6-2 final after running Team Hungary out of rocks in the eighth. 

With four games remaining in round robin play, Team Canada remains well positioned to qualify for a playoff berth into the round of 16.  

“It’s nice that we’ve got these wins under our belt,” said Chris Haichert. “Team Canada just wants to continue to get sharper as the week goes on and improve our game in hopes that we can control our own destiny.  

Team Canada coach Pat Simmons agreed that Team Canada is on the right track. 

“Happy with the record so far,” said Simmons. “The team is playing. We’re building, obviously, through the week and looking to be as sharp as we possibly can by the end of the week. Everything is on track and on course, so looking forward to the next game.” 

Simmons, who is a two-time Montana’s Brier champion (2014, 2015), says adjusting from being a player to a coach has its subtleties.  

“It’s been good,” said Simmons of the experience. “It’s a little cold sitting out on the rink, for sure.” 

The top three teams from each group qualify directly for the Round of 16. Then, the best ranked fourth place team — comparing Draw Shot Challenge (DSC) average amongst the fourth placed teams — will round out the final 16. 

Team Canada is back in action Tuesday versus Team England’s Andrew Woolstad at 3 p.m., (all times Eastern). 

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.