SYDNEY, N.S. — The Canadian team’s numbers speak for themselves at the world women’s curling championship this week.
A stellar 11-1 round-robin record. An overall shooting percentage of 88.4 per cent. An impressive 96 points scored to just 53 against.
Skip Rachel Homan, third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes ran the table at the national championship and they’re in strong form again here at Centre 200.
Canada secured the top seed Friday afternoon with an efficient 8-2 win over Scotland’s Rebecca Morrison. The result locked up a semifinal berth for the Ottawa-based side and ensured they’ll be playing for a medal on Sunday.
“The bigger the game, the better they play,” said team coach Don Bartlett. “And you can’t teach that.”
Homan scored three in the second end and stole a pair in the fifth when Morrison was light on a draw. Scotland conceded after the Canadian skip drew for a pair in the seventh.
In the evening, South Korea edged Canada 6-5 in an essentially meaningless night game for the host side that served as a playoff tune-up.
As the first seed, Canada will open playoff games with hammer and have choice of stone colour.
Canada has been tested at times throughout the week. Homan opened with a 7-6 win over Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg and needed an extra end for an 8-7 win over Italy’s Stefania Constantini a few days later.
A plucky Turkish side was also a handful, forcing Homan to make a pair of tricky soft-weight raises in the 10th end for a 9-5 win that was closer than the score might suggest.
The Wilkes-Miskew front end has been in top form and Fleury has consistently set up her skip. Homan has appeared cool and confident no matter the type of shot required.
“We’ve made the big shots when we’ve needed them,” Homan said. “I think it’s some of the best curling that we’ve ever had as a team and hopefully we can continue that.”
The loss to Gim ended Homan’s overall win streak at 27 games.
Defending champion Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland beat Sweden 4-2 to secure the other direct semifinal berth as the second seed at 10-2. Italy (10-2) earned the third seed after a 10-8 win over Japan’s Miyu Ueno and South Korea (10-2) took the fourth seed.
In Saturday’s qualification games, Italy will meet sixth-seeded Madeleine Dupont of Denmark (6-6) and South Korea will play Sweden (7-5). The winners will advance to the semifinals later in the day.
Medal games are set for Sunday.
Homan’s first loss of the competition dropped her overall season record to 60-6.
Gim made a draw in the eighth end to force Homan to try an angle-raise with her last throw. The Canadian skip gave up her first steal since opening night when her rock rolled just under the shot stone.
Homan settled for a single in the ninth when her draw was light and Gim used hammer for a game-winning hit in the 10th.
In the other late games, Tabitha Peterson of the United States dumped New Zealand’s Jessica Smith 9-3 and Norway’s Marianne Roervik dropped an 8-6 decision to Estonia’s Liisa Turmann.
The bottom seven teams in the 13-team field included the U.S. (6-6), Scotland (5-7), Norway (4-8), Turkey’s Dilsat Yildiz (3-9), Japan (3-9), Estonia (2-10) and New Zealand (1-11).
Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., will skip the Canadian team at the March 30-April 7 world men’s curling championship in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 22, 2024.
SUDBURY, Ont. – The Pittsburgh Penguins went “old school” on Sunday, getting three goals from Evgeni Malkin and two from Sidney Crosby to defeat the Ottawa Senators 5-2 in an NHL pre-season contest at Sudbury Community Arena.
The Senators had built a 2-1 first-period lead on goals from Nick Cousins and Tim Stutzle, but the Penguins’ veterans rallied to take a 3-2 lead into the third period, then added two more in the final frame despite being badly outshot 30-19.
Defenceman Kris Letang chipped in with two assists for the Penguins, who tallied twice on the power play. Malkin also had an assist for a four-point game.
Starting netminder Tristan Jarry stopped 24 of 26 shots for the Penguins before being replaced by Filip Larsson who made four saves.
Anton Forsberg played the entire game in net for the Senators, stopping 14 of 18 shots.
UP NEXT
Penguins: Visit the Detroit Red Wings on Monday.
Senators: Visit the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 29, 2024.
ROGERS, Ark. (AP) — Jasmine Suwannapura made a 12-foot eagle putt on the second hole of a playoff with Lucy Li to win the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship on Sunday.
Suwannapura — playing in the group behind Li — also eagled the par-5 18th in regulation to force the playoff at Pinnacle Country Club. They each birdied the 18th on the first extra hole.
Suwannapura shot a career-best 10-under 61, playing the back nine in 7-under 28, to match Li at 17-under 196. Tied for 25th entering the day, Li shot a tournament-record and career-best 60, making her third eagle of the round on 18.
“Lucy was not the easy player to play in a playoff with, so I’m really glad to play and stay calm and stay within myself, play my game,” said Suwannapura, who jumped into husband-caddie Michael Thomas’ arms after the winning putt. “Today happened, so I’m very happy.”
Suwannapura won her third LPGA Tour title, playing the final 22 holes without a bogey. The 31-year-old Thai player also won the 2018 Marathon Classic and teamed with Cydney Clanton to take the 2019 Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational.
“It’s been a long time, and there is a time that I think I probably not going to win again,” Suwannapura said. “But today everything just fall in the right place, right time. And we did it with my husband is even more special.”
Li, the 21-year-old American who played in the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open at age 11, missed a chance for her first LPGA Tour victory.
“I had honestly no clue that this was going to happen,” Li said. “I did not think I was in it at all. I mean, after two three-putts in the first four holes I was just like, ‘I don’t know.′ And then some magic came and I shot 60. Even though I didn’t win, just this is the greatest thing.”
Sei Young Kim was a stroke back after a 63. She made a 20-footer for eagle on 18.
Savannah Grewal of Mississauga, Ont., was the top Canadian, finishing tied for 44th at 6 under. Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., finished tied for 58th at 5 under.
Mao Saigo (65) and Arpichaya Yubol (66) tied for fourth at 14 under, and second-round leader Ashleigh Buhai (69) was sixth at 13 under.
University of Arkansas sophomore Maria Marin topped the Razorbacks contingent in the field, closing with a 69 to tie for 17th at 10 under in her first tour start.
BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Red Sox honored longtime radio voice Joe Castiglione, who called his final game Sunday, with an on-field pregame ceremony.
The 77-year-old Castiglione, who was honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame this summer with the Ford C. Frick Award, has been the team’s lead radio voice since 1983.
During the ceremony, the team played highlights of his calls over videos of the American League championship team in 1986, and Boston’s World Series title teams in 2004, ’07, ’13 and ’18 on the center-field scoreboard.
Members of those teams came onto the field during the ceremony. Hall of Famer Jim Rice highlighted the ’86 group and Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez was one of the ’04 former players.
Castiglione referred to his call ending the ’04 championship that broke an 86-year title drought, when he thanked the fans. It came on a ground ball back to pitcher Keith Foulke, who was also there to represent that team.
“I will miss being your eyes and ears,” he said. “For 42 years, all I can say is: Can you believe it!”
Asked how he felt making the call of his final out — a liner to center by Tampa Bay’s Richie Palacios that ended a 3-1 victory by the Red Sox, Castiglione said: “I was sort of numb. It sort of felt like the ninth inning in St. Louis in ‘04. … It still really hasn’t set in, probably won’t until next spring.”
Before the top of the eighth, the team ran a montage of his calls over highlights shown on the center-field scoreboard. When it was over, the entire Red Sox dugout emptied, with players, coaches and manager Alex Cora stepping onto the field, looking up and applauding toward him in the booth behind home plate.
“I had some moments, especially when Alex brought the players out,” Castiglione said.
Jackie Bradley, the 2018 ALCS MVP, caught a ceremonial first pitch from Castiglione.
“Forty-two years is a long, long time for someone to be working every single day to go through the struggles and the successes, the travel and the lifestyle, and always have a smile,” Martinez said. “Those are the kind of people that deserve all the respect that we are giving him today.”
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu handed him a proclamation declaring Sept. 29, 2024, as “Joe Castiglione Day” in Boston. Team President Sam Kennedy presented him with letters from Fenway Park’s infamous Green Monster that read: “CASTIG” in white with a green background color of the Monster.
Cora, a member of the ’07 team, was also on the field and Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow, representing the ’13 squad, was on the field as well.
Castiglione signed off like he does each season, reading part of A. Bartlett Giamatti’s “The Green Fields of the Mind.”
“I did right away, right after the game ended,” he said.
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This story has been corrected to show that Castiglione was honored with an award by the Hall of Fame, not inducted.
