You won’t find many tougher losses in curling than what Marie Wright and Jamie Anseeuw went through at the World Wheelchair Curling Mixed Doubles Championship on Sunday afternoon in Finland.
The Team Canada duo surrendered three in the eighth and final end to drop a 7-6 decision to Slovakia’s Monika Kunkelova and Radoslav Duris during Group B Draw 3, falling to 1-2 at the event with five round-robin games remaining.
It was a difficult start for Moose Jaw’s Wright and Winnipeg’s Anseeuw in their lone game of the day, as Slovakia used the hammer to score three in the first end and build a 4-1 lead through three.
Much like they did in their previous game against Germany, though, Canada was able to rally. After scoring a single point in the fourth, Wright and Anseeuw stole two in the fifth to tie things up and then cracked Slovakia’s power play with a steal of one in the sixth before adding another single point in the seventh.
That set the stage for the final end, where Kunkelova and Duris would put up their big end to pull off the stunning win.
Canada is now tied for sixth place in Group B with their 1-2 record. The top three teams from each nine-team pool advance to the playoffs after the round-robin wraps up on Tuesday.
Wright and Anseeuw will undoubtedly need to go on a bit of a winning run through their remaining games, which include the United States at 12:30 a.m. [Moose Jaw time] and Norway at 7:30 a.m. Monday before facing Turkey at 12:30 a.m. and Czechia at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Canada caps the round-robin against Denmark at 12:30 a.m. Wednesday.
For more information, including live scoring throughout the event, be sure to visit www.worldcurling.org/events/wwhmdcc2022.
