Wednesday, February 13, 2002
Law rink in the zone
By CHRIS STEVENSON -- SLAM! Sports
SALT LAKE CITY -- Georgina Wheatcroft could see it coming.
In the crucial sixth end of Canada's fourth draw game against the United
States, Wheatcroft, the second in Kelley Law's foursome, knew something good
was going to happen with Law's last rock.
The Americans, trailing 4-1 at the time, were counting three and looking like
they could get themselves back into the game. But Law executed a out-turn
triple that spilled all the American stones out of the hose and forced
American skip Kari Erickson to draw for one.
The Americans would chip away before falling 6-4 - leaving Canada at a
perfect 4-0 and on their way to a playoff berth - but Law's execution in that
sixth end is a sign that even when things aren't progressing the way the
Canadians want, they can still find a way to win.
"Nothing is guaranteed. We're just trying to do all the things we've been
trained to do," said Wheatcroft, curling 85 percent to this point. "We're
pretty much right on. There have been a few little blips, but it's how you
react to them, how you deal with them, and we've been dealing with them well.
That's what made the difference.
"Look at that shot (in the sixth end). I knew Kelley would make it. She makes
those shots and that's why she's a great skip. It looked pretty sweet."
The Americans took singles in the sixth, seventh and eighth ends to tie it.
Law blanked the ninth. With three Canadian counters, Erickson could only
manage to remove one with her last rock, leaving Canada with the 6-4 win.
Approaching the halfway point of the round-robin, Canada, looking to defend
the gold medal won by the Sandra Schmirler rink four years ago in Nagano,
clearly stands atop a tournament which has seen the other favourites getting
hammered.
"We've just been saying every game we've been working on the process," said
Law. "We're taking care of the task at hand and not looking any further than
that because then you're thinking about the outcome.
"We picked up the ice well today and we're executing better...The games we h
ave been playing are not our best curling but we are still winning and that
is nice."
In a day of upsets Wednesday, Switzerland (3-0) downed Norway (0-3) 7-5 to
put Norwegian skip Dordi Nordby, one of the pre-Olympic favourites, in
serious trouble; Germany (3-0) defeated Japan (0-3) by a 5-3 score and
Denmark (1-2) pulled out an 11-9 win over Sweden's Elisabet Gustafson, the
four-time world champion, to leave the Swedes at 1-3.
Canada plays Great Britain (2-1) in the evening draw Thursday.
2002 Games Curling Coverage
