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These Championships were due to have taken place in March, but postponed because of Swedish Covid regulations, and are now set for 15th May to 22nd May in Jönköping, Sweden, which was the original venue. The city is famous for one person more than any other and it is Agnetha Fältskog of ABBA who was born there. Did ye ken that, Agnetha? (in Scottish) Eh, what was that? (in Swedish).


Men's Teams: Canada, Germany, Italy, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and United States.
The Scottish team is James Craik (Skip), Angus Bryce (Vice-Skip), Scott Hyslop (2nd), Niall Ryder (Lead) with Alternate Jack Carrick. Angus Bryce is another player from my local ice rink to play in the top championships this year.

In the opening games on Sunday, Scotland will play Korea at 9am and United States at 7pm, then New Zealand at 2pm on Monday.

Women's Teams: Canada, Denmark, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and United States. The Scots only made into the Championships following the expulsion of the Russian Curling Federation and the withdrawal of the first reserve, Hungary. They were originally down to compete in the B Championships in Lohja, Finland in January, but they were cancelled due to a Covid outbreak during the competition.
The Scottish team is Fay Henderson (Skip), Katie McMillan (Vice-Skip), Lisa Davie (2nd), Holly Wilkie-Milne (Lead) and Alternate Robyn Mitchell.

In this competition, Scotland only play 1 game on Sunday and that is against Canada at 2pm, with 2 games on Monday - versus United States at 9am and Switzerland at 7pm.

The round-robin section finishes on Friday 20 May, with the Semi-finals on Saturday 21 May and the Finals on Sunday 22 May.

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Eagle - you can see where this is going. 

We've made it to the final major Championships of the 21/22 season with the stars of tomorrow. Scotland Men got off to a flier by defeating Korea 8-5 in their first game, followed by a dominant 9-1 thrashing of United States in the final game of the day. United States had already beaten Canada 11-10 in the morning game, with both teams either pretty good or pretty bad - I know which one my money's on.

Scotland Women got off to a flier as well, beating reigning champions, Canada, by 9-7 in a controlled display. They were 0-5 down after only 2 ends, but then scored 9 shots in 5 ends, restricting the Canadians to 2 single shots.

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Should I Laugh Or Cry

Scotland Men are laughing with a win against New Zealand by 10-5, although they were held to 4-4 after 6 ends before winning comfortably. They now have 3 wins from 3 games, alongside Germany and Norway.

On the other hand, Scotland Women are crying after defeats from both United States by 8-9, losing 3 shots in the last end, and Switzerland by 3-8. However they are in 5th equal position after 3 games, so not out of it by any means.

Tomorrow's games have the men playing Germany at 9am and Italy at 7pm, with the Women playing Japan at 2pm.

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Just A Notion
Once again Scotland Men were tied 4-4 at 6 ends, but controlled the rest of the game to run out 6-4 winners over Germany. They then followed this up with a 10-3 demolition of Italy after only 7 ends, although it had been a close game up to the 4th end. Scotland and Norway are the only undefeated teams with 5 wins and are looking good for Semi-final qualification. The Scots have 1 game tomorrow, against 5th placed Canada at 2pm.

Slipping Through My Fingers
Also once again, Scotland Women got off to a poor start, losing the first 4 ends and eventually falling 4-7 to Japan. With only 1 win out of 4 games, they now face an uphill task to get back into the running for a Semi-final place. The Women have 2 games tomorrow, firstly against unbeaten Norway at 9am and then unbeaten Latvia at 7pm. There's no let-up in these pressure games, Scotland needing at least 1 unikely win to keep their hopes alive.[/b]

[ritchiebaby]

Don't Shut Me Down

Scotland Men lost their unbeaten record in a 6-7 loss to Canada after a tense extra end. They are still in 1st equal position with Germany and Norway on 5 wins out of 6, but still have work to do to consolidate that position. Their remaining games are against Norway at 9am tomorrow, Sweden at 7pm tomorrow, followed by Switzerland at 2pm on Friday and it looks as though 1 win might be good enough.

Scotland Women had a close game against Norway, level at 6-6 after 6 ends, but eventually losing 7-9. Later they handed Latvia their 2nd defeat of the day by 7-5, leading all the way. Realistically it looks like the 7th placed Scots, on only 2 wins, need to win their 3 remaining games to be in the 4 qualifying places. These games are against Korea at 2pm tomorrow, then Sweden at 9am and Denmark at 7pm, both on Friday. Not impossible by any means as these 3 opponents are all in the bottom half of the table as well.

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As Good As New
Scotland Men returned to their run of good form, beating both close rival Norway at a canter by 9-2 after only 6 ends and an equally impressive win over Sweden by 11-4 after 8 ends. Both teams scored 4 ends each, but the Scots made merry when they had last stone. Germany and Scotland have ensured qualification with 7 wins out of 8, followed by Canada, Norway and Switzerland on 5 wins. United States have a half-decent chance on 4 wins, with their last game against bottom of the table New Zealand, IF at least one of the three above them lose their tricky final game.

Hasta Manana
Scotland Women played a really good game against Korea and only lost out 8-9 with the last stone of an extra end. They had been 7-6 up after 8 ends, but couldn't get the 2 shots they needed in the 10th end to win, having to settle for the extra end. Scotland now have no chance to progress to the Semi-finals with only 2 wins. United States have already qualified with 6 wins out of 7 and they are ahead of Latvia, Japan and Norway on 5 wins, with Korea, Switzerland and Sweden on 3 wins. Only two of the last three could qualify as Korea play Sweden in the final game and 2 wins are needed for success.

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I Have A Dream
Scotland Men eventually overcame Switzerland 8-5. They were 4-5 behind after 7 ends, but scored 4 shots in the last 3 ends to secure 1st position at the end of the round-robin with 8 wins, ahead of Germany on 7 wins and Canada and Norway, both on 6 wins. United States did win their final game, but unfortunately for them, so did Canada and Norway.  Scotland now play Norway in the Semi-final at 2pm tomorrow, dreaming of a medal chance, with Germany and Canada contesting the other Semi-final.

I Wonder (Departure)
Scotland Women went further downhill today, losing 4-11 against Sweden, after being 6 shots down after 3 ends, but managing an 8-4 victory over bottom team Denmark. However, the Scots had to score 5 shots in the final 2 ends played to get that win. As a result of the week's below par performances, Scotland are now relegated to the B Division for next season. To be fair, that's where they were before the competition started, and I wonder if they're just not quite ready to move up to the big league.

In the Women's Semi-finals, Norway should be playing Sweden, with United States playing Japan, both at 7pm tomorrow. There's no confirmation as yet, because Japan took forever and an extra end to beat Canada in the game just finished.

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On And On And On
Scotland Men got the first part of the medal hunt spot on with a 7-5 win over Norway in the Semi-final, guaranteeing them a medal in the Final tomorrow. They were never behind all game and ran the Norwegians out of stones in the 10th end. Germany had much the same type of game against Canada, never being behind and had a simple takeout with last stone to win 8-5.

So it's on once again to the final games tomorrow when Scotland meet Germany in the Gold/Silver Match at 9am, with Norway v Canada in the Bronze Medal Match at the same time.

In the Women's Semi-finals, Sweden beat Norway by 5-4 in a very tight game and Japan had an easier time against United States winning 7-3, although it had been 3-3 after 7 ends.

On again for the Women too, where Sweden play Japan in the Gold/Silver Match at 2pm tomorrow, and again the Bronze Medal Match between United States and Norway is held at the same time.

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The Winner Takes It All
And the winner of the Men's competition issssss..................hold for five seconds.............SCOTLAND. They trounced Germany in a one-sided final by 7-1 to win Gold after only 8 ends. Regular readers will have seen me mention the German player, Andy Kapp. This time he is the coach and his son, Benjamin, is the skip. Scotland and Germany have been the stand-out teams all week and fully deserve their success.

After claiming the World Junior title, Scotland skip James Craik said, “It feels pretty crazy right now, I don’t really believe it just now. I’m just so proud of the boys. They came out and shot the lights out there and played so well. That was one of our most clinical performances.” Reflecting on the entire tournament, he added, “Our week was perfect. I’m so over the moon. We had a great time here in Sweden, it was just fantastic. I couldn’t be prouder of the guys and all the team behind us and we’re just so thankful.”

James Craik, Angus Bryce, Scott Hyslop, Niall Ryder and alternate Jack Carrick

The Bronze Medal was won by Canada with another emphatic victory, this time by 13-4 over Norway in 8 ends.

GOLD - Scotland
SILVER - Germany
BRONZE - Canada

The Women's competition was won by Japan beating Sweden by 7-4 in a see-saw game, in which Japan always had a slight edge. United States won the other final, overcoming Norway by 10-6, after being 4-6 down after 7 ends.

GOLD - Japan
SILVER - Sweden
BRONZE - United States

So Long
That's it from me but I hope to be back in November with some more Championship curling.