The Canadian women's team that won the gold medal at the
world senior curling championships in Dunedin on Saturday
is (from left) Christine Jurgenson, Roselyn Craig, Cheryl
Noble and skip Pat Sanders. Photo by Peter McIntosh.
It was business as usual for the Canadian women when they
collected the gold medal at the Dunedin Ice Stadium on
Saturday.
It was the fifth time the Canadian woman had won the gold
medal at the senior championships since the event started in
2002.
It has become the accepted result.
The Canadian team of Christine Jurgenson, Roselyn Craig,
Cheryl Noble and skip Pat Sanders outplayed the Swiss
combination of Renate Nedkoff, Lotti Pieper, Silvia Niederer
and Brigitta Keller 10-1 when the game was called off after
just six ends.
It was the first senior title for the team from the Juan de
Fuca Curling Club in British Columbia.
But three members of the team had success in open
international curling in their younger days.
Sanders (54) won a gold medal at the world championships in
1987, Noble (52) won a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in
Salt Lake City in 2002 and a world title in Glasgow in 2000
and Jurgenson (55) a world title in 1986 and another one in
2000.
It was easier this time.
"When I won my gold medal in 1987, it was as though I was on
a speeding train that was out of control," Sanders said.
"This time, I am playing with my friends."
Coach Wes Craig had devised a simple plan for the final.
"Our plan was to keep control of the house," he said.
Canada took control by scoring a four on the first end and
Switzerland had to play catch-up curling after this.
It was always going to be difficult because Canada had strong
hitters who were prepared to blast the Swiss stones out of
the house.
"We tried to spread our rocks to the side of the house to get
the Swiss to attempt to hit them out," Craig said.
The Canadians had a defensive strategy throughout the
championships and the target was to get two shots in each end
and be prepared to give one up if it was necessary.
The Canadians scored a one on the second end and followed it
with two, two and one on the next three ends to lead 10-0
after five of the eight ends.
One more end was enough before the Swiss team capitulated
after getting one point on the sixth end.
The Swiss had won bronze medals in 2006 and 2008 and wanted a
medal of a different colour this time.
They achieved this by beating Scotland 7-6 in the semifinal
to gain the right to play off for gold and silver.
Canada won the other semifinal when it beat Sweden 8-4.
Sweden won the bronze medal by beating Scotland 6-2.
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