Roundup: Shield gets back on track with win over Frontier

TORONTO — Shield Curling Club bounced back into the win column with a 2-1 victory over Frontier Curling Club during Thursday’s Rock League action at TMU Mattamy Athletic Centre.

Shield’s men’s team held on for a 7-6 victory, while the women’s squad hammered out a 10-1 rout. The mixed doubles team came close to completing a sweep, but fell 6-5 in a draw-to-the-button shootout. 

After losing two consecutive matches, Shield is now level with a 2-2 record and is in third place overall in the debut season of Rock League. Frontier (1-3) remains in last place with one round-robin game to go Friday for each franchise before Saturday’s seeding matches. The top four franchises advance to Sunday’s playoff stage. 

“We needed that one,” said Shield captain Brad Jacobs, who skips the men's team. “We needed to bounce back after a couple of losses. It's really nice to see our women's side getting into a groove and our mixed doubles team is in every single game. I think our men's team is rolling pretty good too, so that was a big win.” 

Jacobs pulled off a split to score four in the second end and stole a pair of points in the fifth to hold a commanding 7-2 lead with two ends remaining.

Frontier skip Danny Casper got two back in the sixth and had shot rock locked on the pinhole in the seventh for a potential two points plus another stone above in the four-foot circle blocking it. Jacobs had second shot though in the four-foot as well and opted to just throw his last away to give up the pair of points but secure the victory. 

Meanwhile, Einarson counted three in the first then rode away on the steal train, swiping two in the second and back-to-back singles in the third and fourth. Frontier, skipped by Tabitha Peterson, was limited to a single in five, and Einarson matched with a point back in six then stole a couple more in seven to hit double digits.

Total points scored is the tiebreaker in the standings, making every one count should it come down to it.

“We put a lot of points on the board. Our points score was good going into that game and to add even more to that was dynamite,” Jacobs said. 

Shield’s Marlee Powers shot first in the mixed doubles shootout, but her rock rolled deep, and sweeper Benoît Schwarz-van Berkel eased up as it stopped at the back of the eight-foot circle. Taylor Anderson-Heide and captain Korey Dropkin were right on target with their shooter, biting a piece of the button just for kicks. 

“Yeah, it felt really good,” Anderson-Heide said. “It's nice having a pressure draw and Korey sweeps it perfect, so I just know I had to give it to him.”

Frontier held the hammer in the eighth end, trailing by one, but was unable to generate a multiple score with its power play. Anderson-Heide drew for just a single, however, it helped give her a practice shot for the shootout. 

“Mixed doubles is great for draw weight, so I felt confident throwing it,” she said. “Korey's a great sweeper like I said, and I felt comfortable throwing that out-turn.”

Northern flips the script

Northern United turned the tables after being swept Wednesday against Alpine Curling Club to complete a 3-0 match sweep of its own over Typhoon Curling Club on Thursday afternoon.

Northern captain Bruce Mouat and his fours team rolled right past Niklas Edin's Typhoon squad 10-4 in the men's game, while Kristin Skaslien and Yannick Schwaller earned an 8-5 victory over Tori Koana and Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi in the mixed doubles game.

Isabella Wranå edged Anna Hasselborg 7-6 by inches on the button in a draw shot challenge shootout to end the women's game and secure the half-point bonus in the standings for the sweep.

Mouat called it an important win as Northern improved to a 3-1 record and finished the day at second place in the standings.

"We were a wee bit disappointed with our performance yesterday, so we changed up a few things, talked about communication and all the things that really matter when it comes to team dynamics," Mouat said. "I felt really comfortable today, and I’m very proud of how we bounced back from a tough day yesterday."

Giulia Zardini Lacedelli and Rasmus Wranå played mixed doubles during Northern's previous two matches, but general manager Christoffer Svae switched things up, reverting to the franchise's lineup from its first match, a 2-1 win over Maple United. With Skaslien and Schwaller in for mixed doubles, Zardini Lacedelli was back at lead on the women’s team, Wranå returned to second on the men’s team and Robin Brydone moved up to third.

Typhoon (2-2) slipped to fourth place overall.

Alpine on a roll

Alpine won its third match in a row, defeating Maple 2-1 Thursday evening, to maintain its spot at the top of the table.

The European-based squad holds a 3-1 record and 3.5 match points plus a seven-point advantage over Northern in the total points scored tiebreaker.

The women's team, skipped by captain Alina Pätz, stole singles in four consecutive ends en route to a 6-1 victory while Joël Retornaz skipped the men's side to a 10-6 decision.

"Not every game starts the way that we want it to, but we're finishing strong," said Emma Miskew, who throws second stones and handles vice skip duties for Alpine's women's team.

A funny moment that could only happen in curling occurred during the fifth end of the men's game. Alpine third Marc Muskatewitz thought the end was finished and began kicking off the rocks before realizing both teams still had one more stone to throw.

The teams laughed it off and did their best to place the rocks back in their original positions, as play resumed. Fortunately for Muskatewitz, it didn't come back to bite him as Alpine ended up stealing three points to lead 7-2.

Things got dicey in the sixth as Retornaz's takeout attempt was too light, giving Maple's Ross Whyte an opportunity to make a nose hit to score four and close within one to spice up the final end. An overcurl on Maple's last took away the steal attempt, and Retornaz drew for three more points.

Maple revamped it's mixed doubles lineup, switching out Brett Gallant for Tanner Horgan from the men's team, to pair Jocelyn Peterman. The change led to an 11-6 victory over Alpine's Almida de Val and Oskar Eriksson.

It looked like Maple had pulled away after Peterman connected on a short raise to score three in the fourth to take a 5-1 lead, however, Alpine capitalized on its power play to get three right back in the fifth.

De Val and Eriksson couldn't recover from a critical mistake in the sixth, wrecking on a guard, that handed Peterman an open hit to score five and a 10-4 advantage. After Alpine took two in the seventh, Maple looked to make a hit and potentially count five in the eighth to pad its points scored total, but the shooter overcurled and resulted in just a single.

Maple (1-3) is fifth in the standings after sustaining its second straight loss.