New Zealand Curling

Innsbruck, Austria – Switzerland won the gold medal in the Mixed Fours Team Curling Competition at the 1st Winter Youth Olympic Games. They beat Italy 6-4, so the Italians took the silver medal. Canada won the bronze in beating Sweden 6-4.

The medal games also determined the final make-up of the Mixed Doubles competition, where one male and one female player from different countries will play a knockout competition. New Zealand's four curlers will partner players from Canada, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland.

Quarter-Finals

It was a clean sweep for Team Sweden as they never let opponents Norway get on the scoreboard and had steals of two and three points in the 5th and 7th ends before the Norwegians conceded the game at 8-0.

The Japanese had their Swiss opponents on the run for most of their quarterfinal game. Skip Shingo Usui stole single points in the third and fourth ends and led the game 2-0 until the Swiss were able to take 3 points back in the 6th end. The game went all the way to the last stone with Swiss Skip Michael Brunner having to draw to the button against three Japanese counters for a 4-3 win.

	Team Japan (Photo: WCF / Leslie Ingram-Brown)

Japanese coach Shinya Abe said: “I’m quite disappointed. Before this event we had a small training camp at the beginning of December for around five days but it’s hard to pulling together a team in such a short period of time. We had a good start today but in the late end we made a couple of tactical mistakes and missed a shot which cost us the game. But I’m proud of the team and their achievements and they are all looking forward to the Mixed Doubles competition.”

In the game between Italy and previously unbeaten USA, the Italians stole four points in the fourth end when US Skip Korey Dropkin was light with his last stone.  With the score 5-0 going into the break, the Americans faced a major task to get back into the game. A bold shot by Dropkin in the 5th end secured the Americans two points. But Italy widened the lead to 7-2 in the 6th end. Following a failed double take out attempt by Italian Skip Amos Mosaner, Dropkin drew for 3 points in 7th. Italy won the game 7-5 in the eighth end after the Americans wracked on a guard and ruined their chances of scoring two points to tie up the game and force an extra end.

In the remaining quarterfinal game, Canada faced the Czech Republic. Canada was leading 7-3 going into the 6th end. The Czechs fought back taking two points in the 6th and stealing one point in the 7th but the Canadians were able to hold onto their narrow 7-6 lead with Skip Thomas Scoffin clearing out the house with his final stone to blank the end and win the game.

Semi-Finals

In the semifinals Switzerland met Sweden and Italy played Canada.

The Swiss got off to a head start and were up 5-1 by the fourth end. Sweden won two points in the fourth end then watched their Youth Olympic gold medal hopes fade as the Swiss stole five points in the fifth end. With his last stone of that end, Swedish Skip Rasmus Wrana wracked on a guard and gave his Swiss opponent Michael Brunner an easy raise for five. The Swedes shook hands at the sixth end, with the final score at 10-4.

"It's awesome, I don’t know how to describe it – I still can't believe it, it just feels great,” said an elated Brunner after the game. “Scoring five gave us confidence and took the pressure off a little but we knew we had to play until the end of the game so we had to concentrate. They made a few mistakes today and we made the right decisions which helped us win the game. We’re very happy and we will give our best in the final."

In the other semifinal, it was Italy who pulled away from the outset, establishing a 6-1 lead over Canada by the fourth end with a steal of three points. Canadian Skip Thomas Scoffin attempted to break up three Italian stones lying in the house, but he was light with his shot and hit a guard and let the Italians steal the three points. The Italians went on to win the game 8-2.

Medal Games

In the gold medal game, Swiss skip Michael Brunner and his team of Elena Stern, Romano Meier and Lisa Gisler faced Italy, skipped by Amos Mosaner with Denise Pimpini, Alessandro Zoppi and Arianna Losano.

It was a close game, but one where the Swiss had the upper hand all the way. Going into the eighth end, Switzerland were up two points on 6-4 and Italy had to take two to tie the game up and force an extra end. Skip Amos Mosaner was heavy with his first stone and the game was over at that point, with the final score staying at 6-4.

“I feel great, just great I can't believe it! It was perfect,” exclaimed Swiss Skip Michael Brunner on winning the Gold medal. “Our goal was to reach the quarterfinals, but I thought it would be great to have a medal. I am really happy that it worked. It was something different to play this event."

As the Gold medal game concluded, Canada and Sweden were still battling out for the bronze. Playing for Canada were Thomas Scoffin, Corryn Brown, Derek Oryniak and Emily Gray. Rasmus Wrana was skipping for Sweden along with Amalia Rudstroem, Jordan Wahlin and Johanna Heldin.

It was another close game which went all the way to the eighth end. At the fourth end break, Sweden was ahead 4-3. But Canada crept back taking one point in the fifth end to tie and stealing a further point in the sixth end to take the lead 5-4. In the eighth end, Sweden had the hammer and needed two points to win. Canadian Skip made a double take out with his first stone, then froze to the Swedish shot stone with his final stone. Sweden then needed one stone to count to tie the game up, but Skip Rasmus Wrana was light with his draw and handed the win and bronze medal to the Canadians.

"That was an amazing game. I give full credit to the Swedes. That was a battle till the end," admitted Canadian Skip Thomas Scoffin on winning the game. "My team played one of the best games I've ever seen them play. It feels really good to come through in the last end like that with two good shots. There was no stopping us, and we knew it. I couldn't ask for three better teammates."

"It was pretty heart-breaking [not to make the final] but we have a great coach who got us out of the funk. I think we came back as the more prepared team overall and it turned out for us" added Scoffin.

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Mixed Doubles

Teams now have a day when they will get to experience what is on offer as part of the Culture and Education Programme which is also part of this Winter Youth Olympic Games. All the 64 curling athletes will also be back on the ice at some point on Thursday to train with their new teammate for the Mixed Doubles Curling Competition which forms the second part of the curling event at the games.

This unique Mixed Doubles event begins on Friday 20 January, with a second round and quarter-finals on Saturday. Semifinals and medal games will be played before the close of the event on Sunday 22.

Teams consist of one male and one female curler from different nations. The teams for the New Zealand squad are:

					Coach
	Eleanor Adviento (NZL)	/	Romano Meier (SUI)		Peter Becker (NZL)
	Kelsi Heath (NZL)	/	Thomas Scoffin (CAN)		Helen Radford (CAN)
	Johanna Heldin (SWE)	/	Luke Steele (NZL)		Peter Becker (NZL)
	Denise Pimpini (ITA)	/	David Weyer (NZL)		Lucilla Macchiati (ITA)

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