Tiebreakers at Ostersund

Norway and Switzerland faced each other in a tiebreaker for the remaining playoff spot. The teams swapped twos and threes and went in to the sixth end all square at 5-5. Kristian Rolvsfjord masterminded a great sixth end when he had last stone, working with centre guards. Manuel Ruch tried to hide, unsuccessfully, and Rolvsfjord had a tap back for a three.

Up 9-6 in the tenth, the Norwegians ran the Swiss out of stones. They will play USA in the Page 3-4 game.

The women's tiebreaker between Canada and Denmark was not a high quality game. Kaitlyn Lawes tossed her draw through the back to lose a three at the third and go down 5-1. Still the Canadians got back into the game and were just one behind at the ninth. Lawes with her last stone of the end was short of the house, when she could have counted two, or even three.

Denmark then was tied playing the tenth with last stone advantage. What a category of errors then developed. You had to see it to believe it. Three stones to come, Denmark has shot, guarded by two partially checked Canadian counters. Dupont spreads these - she would have been better not even playing her shot. Lawes removes the Denmark counter.

Dupont goes to play her last facing three opposition stones in line across. There is a hole, barely small enough for a stone to go through. So what happens? Her attempted double threads the port perfectly, Canada gets three and a place in the Page 3-4 game against Russia.

All the results, linescores and standings from the event can be found at www.curlingkanalen.se.

Top: The Norwegians in action.
Above: The Canadians try to regroup after going 5-1 down.

Pics by Bob.