TEAM USA CONTROLS DESTINY AT WORLD MIXED DOUBLES CURLING CHAMPIONSHIP 2022
© WCF / Celine Stucki
On Tuesday, April 26th, Becca and Matt Hamilton, representing Team USA, went into two games of the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2022 in Geneva, Switzerland.
The sibling duo from McFarland, Wisconsin, had maintained an unbeaten record through the first four games of the contest, but met their match in Tuesday morning’s draw, falling to England 7-4.
“We just weren’t sharp,” reflected Becca Hamilton after Team USA’s first loss of competition. “The good news is we know what we need to work on and can turn it around tonight.”
In Tuesday evening’s draw, the U.S. met the undefeated team from Scotland.
A well-made freeze by the United States atop two Scottish stones on either side of the button resulted in a score of one for Scotland and last stone advantage for the United States in the second end.
In the second end, a lone American stone sat surrounded by a pile of Scottish counters. Moving granite to put an odd number on the scoreboard was not a possibility, so the U.S. elected to throw their final stone away and score a single point to tie the game at 1-1.
Scotland rebounded with hammer in the third end, scoring the first multiple of the game as defending Olympic Women’s Curling Gold Medalist, Eve Muirhead, drew the button for a second counter, gaining a 3-1 lead.
The fourth end proved troublesome for the U.S. as Scotland sat buried on the button. A lightweight takeout attempt by the United States under-curled, rolling into the 12-foot and adding two more points to the Scottish scoreboard.
In an effort to climb back from the six-point deficit, Team USA elected to use the power play in the fifth end.
A perfectly played fifth end from Scotland limited the scoring area for the United States.
Despite having two of their yellow stones in the house, Scotland sat counting two on either side of the four foot, leaving the U.S. a narrow port. Even with the desired draw weight, the port was unable to be navigated, resulting in another deuce for the Scots to further extend their lead 7-1.
Team USA found their way back on the scoreboard in the sixth end, but only scored a single, resulting in a 7-2 final score and their second loss of the tournament.
Team USA will face Australia in Wednesday’s matchup.
At the conclusion of the round robin, the top three teams from each pool will advance to playoffs.
The top-seed of each pool will qualify directly for the semi-finals, while the third seeded team from each pool will play the second seeded team from the other pool in the quarterfinals. The winner of each quarterfinal matchup will advance to play the top seeded in the semi-finals.
The winners of each semi-final matchup will advance to the gold medal game and the losers will compete for bronze.
Every USA round robin game will be broadcasted, along with the quarterfinals, semi-finals, and medal games.
Games will be simulstreamed on both Peacock Premium and Olympic Channel.
Streams will be available via desktop at peacocktv.com/sports, and stream.nbcsports.com/nbc/watch-olympic-channel and via the Peacock and NBC Sports apps on mobile, tablet and connected television devices.
USA Curling fans can also track the standings and follow live scoring through World Curling Federation’s website.
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.
