TEAM USA 0-2 AFTER OPENING DAY OF PARALYMPIC GAMES
Team USA (Matt Thums, Steve Emt, David Samsa, Oyuna Uranchimeg, and Pam Wilson) opened the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games against Slovakia at the Ice Cube in Beijing on Saturday.
Slovakia started the game with last stone advantage and made immediate use of it by scoring a deuce in the first end with a draw to the four-foot.
Due to execution mishaps early in the second end, Team USA faced four Slovakian counters at the final shot of the end and was forced to attempt to navigate a tight port to draw the button for a single.
Unable to catch enough curl, Team USA crashed on a guard and Slovakia extended its lead to 6-0 after two ends, a deficit that proved to be too large for Team USA to recover from.
The U.S. hung its first point of the game in the third end after executing a hit and stick to secure a single point and trail Slovakia 6-1.
In the fourth end, Slovakia removed the sole American counter from play, scoring another point to close the first half with a 7-1 lead.
Team USA opened the second half of the game with a deuce before Slovakia scored one point in the sixth end and another point in the seventh end to put the game away at 9-3.
“After going through Opening Ceremonies last night, which was absolutely fantastic, it’s good to be back on the ice, doing the things we should be doing,” said Team USA fifth Pam Wilson after the opener. “A little bit of a slow start but we’re going to pick it up and play our game.”
Team USA returned to the Ice Cube only a few hours after the round-robin opener to face Great Britain in its second matchup of the event.
The U.S., skipped by Paralympic first-timer Matt Thums, controlled much of the game against Great Britain, leading by three points after two ends.
Great Britain scored three to even the score after three ends before the U.S. added two points to regain it’s lead in the fourth.
Great Britain countered with two points in the fifth to tie the game.
After being forced to a single point in the sixth end, the United States attempted to draw under cover on its final rock of the seventh to steal or force Great Britain to one, but unable to catch enough curl, Great Britain removed the American counter from play and secured a deuce to lead the United States 7-6 in the final end.
Early execution errors in the eighth end allowed Great Britain to add three stones to the house under a center guard and put the Americans in ‘clean-up mode’ for the remainder of the end.
Facing three Great Britain counters, Matt Thums attempted a tap through a narrow port to try to send the game into extra ends. However, the shooter over-curled, crashing on a guard and concluding the game with a 10-6 loss to Great Britain.
The United States remains in the hunt for its first win of the tournament and will look to bounce back in tomorrow’s matchup against Estonia at 12:35am (CST) on Peacock and the Olympic Channel.
“I think we had a little bit of opening jitters,” added Wilson. “It was a tough day and we played some tough teams, we’re 0-2. Tomorrow, we’re going to bounce back to what our potential is.”
USA Curling is sponsored by Columbia Sportswear, Toyota, Twin Cities Orthopedics, Training HAUS, Brakebush, ISS (Ice, Sports & Solar), and Sitrin, and is partnered with IHG, Rock Solid Productions Inc., Laurie Artiss Ltd. – The Pin People.
