Marie Wright and Jamie Anseeuw looked to have things pretty much in control against Denmark in their final round robin game at the World Wheelchair Curling Mixed Doubles Championship on Wednesday afternoon in Lohja, Finland.
The Team Canada duo had put together three enders in the third and fifth to build a 7-2 lead heading into the final three frames, with a win for Moose Jaw’s Wright and Winnipeg’s Anseeuw giving them a shot at the playoffs.
But in the end, luck just wouldn’t be on Canada’s side.
Denmark’s Sussie Nielsen and Kenneth Oerbaek used their power play to take two in the sixth, stole another three in the seventh and then cracked Canada’s power play with one in the final end to take an 8-7 victory.
As a result, Wright and Anseeuw finished with a 3-5 record and in seventh place in their nine-team round robin pool. A win and a 4-4 record would have seen them tied for third in a four-team logjam.
After opening the tournament with a 1-2 record, Canada split their two games on Monday, May 2 with a 10-4 win over the United States and 9-3 loss to Norway.
Things couldn’t have gone better against Pamela Wison and David Samsa in the opening draw, as Wright and Anseeuw scored five in the first end and led 8-3 through four. They’d steal single points over the next two ends to secure their comfortable victory.
A late-game surge by Norway’s Rikke Iversen and Rune Lorentsen proved to be Canada’s undoing in the nightcap. With the game tied 3-3 through four ends, Norway scored three in the fifth, broke Wright and Anseeuw’s power play with a pair in the sixth and stole another in the seventh to earn the win.
It was another close battle in Canada’s early game on Tuesday, May 3, as Wright and Anseeuw found themselves trailing 4-1 after the fifth but picked up two in the sixth, held Turkey to a single in the seventh and tied things up with a deuce in the eighth. Turkey would use the hammer perfectly in the extra end, though, picking up a pair for the 7-5 win.
With a 2-4 record, Canada needed a win over Czechia in the evening draw to stay alive in the playoff hunt, and they’d get it in dramatic fashion. After Czechia’s Jana Brincilova and Martin Tluk scored four in the first end, Wright and Anseeuw reeled off single points the next three frames and trailed 5-3 through five. They made perfect use of their power play in the sixth, scoring three to take control of the contest, and after holding Czechia to one in the seventh, finished things off with a single point in the final end and a 7-6 victory.
Norway (7-1) and Latvia (5-3) took the first two Group B qualifying spots, the United States (4-4) won the tiebreaker by virtue of beating the other 4-4 teams in the round robin.
Hungary (6-2), Sweden (5-3) and Italy (5-3) qualified out of Pool A.
