(by Larry Wood) Vengeance was Team World’s in spades on Friday afternoon at curling’s World Financial Group Continental Cup competition when three Global duets swept the results in the second round of mixed doubles play at the Langley Events Centre.
The sweep afforded the team that was totally embarrassed at last year’s Cup rendition a 24-point lead — 57-33 — heading into the final men’s team games later today.
Team World high fives! (Photo by: Michael Burns/CCA)
The four-day competition features six teams from North America (Canada and the U.S.) facing off against six teams from the remainder of the planet (in this case, Sweden, Scotland, Norway and China) in four separate events involving rocks and brooms — regular team play, mixed doubles, singles (also known as Hot Shots) and skins.
Mixed doubles involved two players per side, one male and one female, playing five rocks each over eight ends of play. There was no sweeping, except by the two players involved.
“All of us came out and put on a good show, I think” said Scotland’s Eve Muirhead.
“Everybody played well and we came out with all the points. There are big men’s games coming up but right now I think we’re four games ahead and I don’t think we could ask for much more at this stage.”
In men’s team games at 11 p.m. AT, Glenn Howard of Canada faces Niklas Edin of Sweden, Pete Fenson of the U.S. tackles Thomas Ulsrud of Norway, and Canadian champion Jeff Stoughton goes against Tom Brewster of Scotland in a rematch of last year’s world championship final.
Click for full story, photos, and Draw 5 media scrum at the CCA website