Friday, February 15, 2002
'I stunk the joint out'
By TERRY JONES -- Edmonton Sun
SALT LAKE CITY -- If Canada can't beat Sweden in curling, how we gonna beat 'em in hockey?
Hopefully, say the Canadians, what happened to them curlers against the Swedes won't be a harbinger of what will happen in hockey with Canada-Sweden set for today.
"I wish we weren't playing. I wish I could watch that game,'' said Don Walchuk who added that he might as well have taken this day off and gone and watched the hockey team practice the way he played.
"I stunk the joint out,'' said Kevin Martin's third, an all-star in almost every big event he's ever played over the years.
"It was a pretty frustrating day. Blame that one on me. I'll take the blame for that one.''
Walchuk shot 55 per cent.
"I can't remember ever shooting 55 per cent,'' he said.
"If I ever did, it's been a long, long time.''
It was Canada's first loss in Olympic curling after both Martin and Kelley Law opened with identical 4-0 records.
With valentine hearts painted on their faces last night Kelley Law's rink moved to 5-0 after crushing Britain's Rhona Martin 9-4. They had a bye in the morning draw.
Martin's 6-5 extra-end loss to Sweden, the team Sports Illustrated picked to beat Martin for the gold medal, dropped Canada back with Germany and Norway, both of which have lost but one so far. Peja Lindholm's Swedes are now 3-2.
"There's no excuse,'' said Walchuk. "No excuse whatsoever.''
Veteran lead Don Bartlett didn't have a much better day, curling 60 per cent.
Both shot 58 per cent for the regulation 10 ends. Martin himself was only 70 per cent. As a team they were out-curled by the Swedes 77 per cent to 64.
"We had chances early and we dropped the ball,'' said Walchuk.
Martin made a fluke shot for two on the first end to get the Edmonton rink out of the gate great.
"That was just lucky,'' said Martin. "It was a 10-foot angle raise. My heel knicked the hack coming out and I ended up sliding on both knees.''
'A SMIDGEN MORE'
As it was he felt he should have won it on 10 and could have stolen it on 11.
"If it had just come up a smidgen,'' he said of his final shot on the extra end.
"And if that one (in the 10th) just curls a smidgen more, I mean an eighth of an inch, we get the deuce and it's game over,'' he said of the shot with hammer that he made to get one while facing three.
"It was a good shot. But if it curled an eighth of an inch more ...''
Walchuk said it shouldn't have been a case of Canadian overconfidence.
"We knew coming in it wasn't going to be a walkover. And we've always had trouble with this guy,'' he said.
"He was the guy who beat us in the semifinal at the world championships in '97. And he's beat us a couple of times in Canada, too, once in Medicine Hat and once in Regina.
"It's one of those monkey things. Every sport has them. This year we've gone after and beat everybody we had owed. Everybody but this guy. Hopefully we'll get another chance.''
Martin says having a guy like Walchuk licking his wounds might be a good thing.
"It might not hurt a bit. Watch out. There's a lot of pride there.''
Martin said the previous two games didn't help.
"The last two games we played both lasted six ends. It's tough to keep your focus when you get a couple games like that. I was saying it the night before. 'I don't like the way we're doing this.' And sure enough, we came out flat today.
"Hey, it's a wake-up call. 'Smarten up. Get back at it.' "
FOUR TO GO
Martin has four games to go in the round-robin section of the 10-team tournament. The Edmonton rink plays Germany and Switzerland today, has the day off tomorrow, goes against Norway Sunday and wraps it up against Denmark Monday.
Four teams proceed to the medal rounds with a first-vs-fourth, second-vs-third set-up with the winners advancing to the gold medal game and the losers to the bronze medal game.
2002 Games Curling Coverage
