Miscellaneous

Thin Ice

103 Comments

The Sochi Olympics have been disastrous for the United States' curling hopes. Since we're nearing the end of the round robin, let's have a look at the standings, keeping in mind that the top four teams advance to the semifinals (tiebreakers to determine these teams will be played as necessary):

Men

Team Record
China 5-1
Sweden 5-1
UK 5-1
Canada 4-2
Norway 3-3
Denmark 2-4
Russia 2-4
US 2-4
Germany 1-5
Switzerland 1-5

 

Women

Team Record
Canada 6-0
Sweden 4-2
China 4-2
UK 4-2
Russia 3-3
Switzerland 3-3
Japan 2-4
Korea 2-4
Denmark 1-5
US 1-5

Since we're headed into the weekend, let's stretch this log out a bit to cover all the action through Sunday night in Men's & Women's Round Robin Sessions 9-11.

Men's Round Robin Session 9 (Saturday, 4am CST)
  • Denmark vs. Switzerland
  • Russia vs. China
  • Canada vs. UK
  • Sweden vs. Germany
Men's Round Robin Session 10 (Saturday, 11pm CST)
  • US vs. Canada
  • UK vs. Norway
  • Sweden vs. Russia
Men's Round Robin Session 11 (Sunday, 9am CST)
  • Norway vs. Switzerland
  • Canada vs. China
  • Germany vs. Denmark
  • US vs. Sweden
Women's Round Robin Session 9 (Saturday, 9am CST)
  • Denmark vs. China
  • Canada vs. Russia
  • US vs. Sweden
  • UK vs. Switzerland
Women's Round Robin Session 10 (Sunday, 4am CST)
  • US vs. Canada
  • Japan vs. Switzerland
  • Sweden vs. Russia
  • Denmark vs. Korea
Women's Round Robin Session 11 (Sunday, 11pm CST)
  • Russia vs. UK
  • US vs. Korea
  • Japan vs. China

103 thoughts on “Thin Ice”

  1. Looks like both US teams practically eliminated. The US Men could at least finish in the middle if they win the rest of their games.

  2. Per the conversation about announcing last night, I really dislike this British guy that's currently calling the GB-SUI match. He sounds like he has no idea what is going on. For instance, the Swiss skip called for a hack weight takeout by tapping her foot, a universal signal, and this guy said they were throwing draw weight. Then, GB was obviously calling a takeout, and he again said it looked like they were throwing draw weight while she was delivering and it was painfully obviously heavier than that.

  3. Also, this nbc live extra app is brutally awful for a company with all sorts of money. If I exit, I have to go in and physically close the app afterwards so that it will work when I open it again, instead of going right back into what I was last watching and now I can't get it to let me watch anything.

  5. Some of you follow curling more closely than I. Is this just a bad couple of weeks for the US, or does it mean that the United States simply isn't ready to take on top international competition yet?

    1. It's been both, especially for the women who aren't gold medal contenders but aren't as bad as they've looked. we've been curling in this country since at least the beginning of the 20th century, but not on the same scale as Canada, and a country like the UK has had the game for centuries. The sport has only really taken off here since it was added to the Olympics, which was a relatively short time ago.

      1. After reading about you and the trinket, I've decided I'd like my kids (if we ever have any) to curl.

    2. I haven't watched much of the U.S. Men, but what I saw of the women was pretty awful, and they can't have played that poorly to win the qualifying tournament.
      I have to expect that Erika Brown is choking under pressure or having an awful week (or hiding an injury? who knows).

  6. A phenomenal double by the Swedish third, a bad guard by Erika Brown, and a great draw on the Swedish hammer equals another US loss.

  7. Not to go complete knuckle dragger here, but the Russian skip Anna Sidorova is an attractive lady.

  8. The U.S. women are now eliminated. 1-6 with two to play and five teams are 4-3 or better.
    The Canadian women have clinched at 7-0.
    The U.S. has yet to play Canada.
    Both of those teams also have yet to play 2-4 Korea. Unless Canada decides to put in their alternate or something, I'm guessing they go undefeated through the Round-Robin.

    Sweden is next-best at 5-2, with 2-4 Japan and 3-4 Russia left.

    Three teams are tied for third at that 4-3 record: Swiss, China, Scotland.
    China and Switzerland play, and they each play 2-4 Japan.
    Scotland plays the only 3-4 team (Russia) and 2-5 Denmark
    /Looks up the time for Russia-Scotland... Sunday night at 11pm (CST) Woo-Hoo!!! At the same time: US-Korea and Japan-China. Last scheduled draw for Russia.

  10. Standings update: Men.
    Prior to Monday's Draws,
    Sweden and Canada are done with the Round-Robin and advance.
    There are three teams with one game left vying for the last two playoff spots:
    China (6-2) has a game lead on Great Britain (5-3), who they play tonight, and Norway (5-3), who plays Denmark (3-5). Both draws are at 4am central time, tonight. It looks like any tiebreakers are on the ice. Not sure what happens if there's a 3-way tie. I'll assume that seeding tiebreakers are by head-to-head. So, all-in-all, like baseball.

  11. Standings update: Women.
    Prior to Monday's Draws,
    Canada ans Sweden advance, but have one game each. Canada vs Korea and Sweden vs Japan (both tomorrow morning US time).

    There are six teams alive for the two remaining spots: China and Scotland (4-3 each), Switzerland (4-4), Japan (3-4), and Denmark and Russia (3-5 each).

    The 11pm (CST) draws:
    Korea-USA; both are already eliminated
    Russia-Scotland; Scotland clinches at least a tiebreaker with a win. Russia is eliminated with a loss
    Japan-China; China clinches at least a tiebreaker with a win, but they still have a decent chance at a tiebreaker with a loss. Japan is all-but-eliminated with a loss. If they lose this but Russia wins vs Scotland, and in the next round they win, Scotland loses, and Switzerland loses, then there's a tie between Russia, Scotland, Japan, and Switzerland for fourth.

    9am Monday (CST) draws:
    Canada-Korea; Canada has advanced, Korea is eliminated.
    Sweden-Japan; Sweden has advanced, Japan has to win either this or the 11pm draw to advance and get some help.
    Denmark-Scotland; Denmark is eliminated if Scotland wins the first draws of the day. The best they can do is a 3 or 4 way tie for fourth.
    China-Switzerland; The winner of this draw is at least in a tiebreaker. If China and Scotland won in the first draws of the day, a China win here eliminates Switzerland. If not, the loser here could still gets some action in the multi-team tie for fourth, if Scotland loses its final scheduled match.

  12. Anyone else here? I've got Russia-Scotland via the CBC. The BBC feed was jumpy right when I started. CBC announcer calls them Scotland, so that's a plus.

    1. And she called them Scotland and Great Britain in the same sentence. "Scotland's Adams has them sitting three, giving Great Britain a good look there." Or something like that.

      1. Oh wow triple from Sidorova has her beaming.
        A bad shot could have been an easy 3 for Scotland
        Muirhead can do nothing but clear through.

          1. I'm in the second end. I had that written at the end of the first, but then a child called. HPR sleepwalked into my bed. He has sleep-gone-to-the-bathroom in the bathtub and garbage cans, so I hope there isn't a surprise anywhere.

      1. I had it for about 5 minutes unbroken but then like 3 times in 30 seconds. CBC hasn't broken yet. Back to them...

  14. I could never be a skip of a curling team because I hate blank ends.

    I dont know if this 3rd will result in one, but it sure looks like it.

  15. Checking the other scores,
    Korea 5 - US 0, 4 in the first end and stole 1 in the second, third end was blank.

    Japan 2- China 2. Both 2-point hammer ends. Third end not finished.

      1. Looks like Sidorova pulled an Erika there.
        I was dumb and hit refresh in that window instead of this one and had to watch 2 identical commercials for a dumb-looking CBC reality show.

  17. I wish I knew the name of the awesome World Feed announcer because he needs some dap. Love listening to him.

  21. Korea 9 - US 1 in the 6th
    41022
    00100
    Yeah

    Japan 5 - China 3 in the 6th.
    20102
    02010
    Looks like another good one.

  22. End 6 was interesting with some bad and great shots . The announcer thinks that Russia left points on the table because Sidorova's first shot was not good.

    1. yeah. I thought she'd have a chance at two by tapping that yellow stone in the center there, maybe push it back behind the stone that was sitting second at the time. But the CBC announcer said there was no shot that would get two, so... what do I know?

  23. After a bunch of problems on other nights, the CBC feed is fantastic tonight. no problems, didn't even cut out when I muted it and pulled up the BBC in another tab.

  24. Well that's an end to the game, isn't it? Even if the Russkies could get three, that's the hammer.
    Japan pulling a bit ahead as well.

    1. Well it looks like they should be able to draw three easy here.
      So they'll need to steal two in the tenth or one each in the 10th and 11th. Back to entertaining...

      I see the US retired down 2-11.

  31. Add to the English that has made the international Curling language: "Good Game, Good Game."

    Updated:
    Denmark and Russia are eliminated.
    Scotland is third with a win (against Denmark), in a tie for third/fourth with a loss.
    The winner of Switzerland/China is at least in a tiebreaker, the loser is eliminated.

    If Japan beats Sweden (clinched), there will need to be a tiebreaker. It will be Japan, the winner of Switzerland/China, and Scotland if they lose.

    If Japan loses, Scotland and the Swiss/Chinese winner make it through to the playoffs.

    Korea plays Canada to give Canada the chance to say they beat every team.

    1. I think they picked that one because with the early concession, they don't need to edit out as much.

      Good night all!

  33. Its 5am and I got a case of insomnia and I stumbled upon a live US-Swiss curling match. If anything that can put me asleep, its watching any of the US curling teams

    was that a shot? too surly? I dunno.

  34. I did not know that the 49ers tight end Vernon Davis was a huge curling fan. And he is an honorary captain. crazy

  35. Men's tiebreaker, Norway vs Scotland. Tonight, 11pm CST.
    Winner plays Sweden in the Semifinals.
    The other Semi is Canada vs China

  36. Free curling in the GB-DEN match, which is surprising because GB had a three point lead heading into the 10th, though without the hammer.

        1. She did, put one nicely inside GB's stone on the button and well guarded. Muirhead had to play off one of her own stones in the house to try to push the Danish stone out, but caught a bit too much of it and couldn't get over there.

    2. Not a good day for my teams.

      Scotland loses, falls to fourth.
      China loses 10-6 to Switzerland, and is eliminated.
      Ott stole 3 in the second end. I should look for the replay.
      Ott must have gotten over her Erika-Brown-itis.
      China went into the tenth down 3 and without the hammer.
      See you in 2016, "Betty" Wang!

      Japan misses at least a tiebreaker because they were the only team to lose to the U.S.
      Seppuku is the only honorable way out of that, right?
      But I don't really want to see that end come to those joyful women who beat China to keep their hopes alive just hours ago.
      One could say the also missed out on a tiebreaker by losing to Sweden just now, but Sweden's really, really good.

      Canada failing to get the gold will be a huge choke.

      1. They should probably just skip the playdown portion of the women's side and just give the gold to Canada. They've looked like (and I suppose literally have been) world beaters.

        I think as far as the men are concerned, I'd like to see Sweden do well since they seem to be what everyone is calling the "surprise" team.

  37. Since it doesn't look like we've strained this log too much, let's just continue with it for one more night (the men's tiebreaker between Norway & the UK) and I'll get a fresh post up for the semifinals that start tomorrow.

    1. It's very important that we make our comments about appearances and outfits on an equal-opportunity basis.

  41. There is something classy about those British Sweaters.
    But aren't they based on flag of England? This is a Scottish team.

    1. I suppose its what the UK Olympic committee bought them. And they are not going to buy the Scottish flag. lol

  43. It took me a while to realize that the CBC's little play-by-play ticker gives the time of day of the play, not gametime.
    So that throw went at 23:25, or 11:25 pm.
    Nothing else.

  46. I fell asleep after the fifth. On the floor next to the computer.
    Staying awake for the RUS-Scotland and CHN-JAP draws on Sunday night/Monday morning burnt me, I guess.
    I can sleep at a normal hour today, unless...

    Parallel Giant Slalom Qualifiers. Women at 23:15, Men at 23:42.
    I don't even know what that is...
    It is Snowboarding.

    In the parallel giant slalom events, two athletes engage in a head-to-head competition on parallel courses. The athletes with the best results in the qualifying round advance to the finals, and then compete on an elimination basis. The snowboarder who wins all the races wins the competition.

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