It took an extra end, but Japan have won the first-ever Pan Continental Curling Championships with an 8-6 victory over Korea in the women’s gold medal final.
This new event has featured teams from the World Curling Federation’s America and Pacific-Asia Zones. It now serves as the world championship qualification route for all World Curling nations, apart from those in the European Zone, with the top five women’s and men’s teams qualifying.
In Sunday evening’s final, Japan blanked the first end and then their skip Satsuki Fujisawa played a draw in the second end, to open the scoring with two points.
In the third end, Korea skip Ha Seungyoun managed to bring her final draw inside three Japanese stones, to score one point and reduce Japan’s lead to 2-1. In the fourth end, Korea had two well-placed stones and this forced Japan’s Fujisawa to throw away her second stone and settle for a score of one and a 3-1 lead.
In the fifth end, Korea skip Ha Seungyoun was able to draw for two points to level the score at 3-3 as the teams went into the fifth end break. After the break, Japan’s Fujisawa was heavy with her last stone draw attempt in the sixth and had to settle for a score of just one rather than the two she was looking for, to move into a 4-3 lead. Japan added to their lead in the seventh end when Korea’s Ha’s stone rolled too far after a hit, to give up a steal of one and put Japan into a 5-3 lead.
Japan led by 6-3 as the teams played the ninth end. Korea’s Ha played a draw to score two points and reduce Japan’s lead to 6-5. In the tenth end, Fujisawa could not remove a Korean stone buried behind cover on the button and gave up a steal of one to level the game at 6-6 and force an extra end.
Fujisawa had last stone in the extra end and used it to produce a hit and stay for two points and the 8-6 win that gave Japan the first-ever Pan Continental title.
After her win, a delighted Fujisawa said, “I’m super happy!” And reflecting on the tight end to the game she added, “Yesterday in the semi-final we had to come back in the last two ends. In this game it was similar but this time it was our opponent coming back. It was a tough situation, but we just had to keep our concentration and our mental state and just get through it. The ice was sometimes challenging, and we had our ups and downs. We lost some games, but we just had to make sure to keep positive, keep ourselves in the game and just enjoy ourselves on the ice.”
And Korea’s Ha Seungyoun was gracious in defeat, saying, “We had a little trouble at the beginning and middle of the game. We tried our best in the latter half but just came up a little short. We’re still a very young team and we’re going to grow, but I’m still very proud to be a silver medallist.”
Medallists:
Gold: Japan – Satsuki Fujisawa (skip), Chinami Yoshida (third), Yumi Suzuki (second), Yurika Yoshida (lead), Kotomi Ishizaki (alternate), JD Lind (coach)
Silver: Korea – Ha Seungyoun (skip), Kim Hyerin (third), Yang Taei (second), Kim Sujin (lead), Lee Sungiun (coach)
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Canucks announced Tuesday that defenceman Alex Edler will sign a one-day contract in order to officially retire as a member of the NHL team.
The signing will be part of a celebration of Edler’s career held Oct. 11 when the Canucks host the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Canucks selected Edler, from Ostersund, Sweden, in the third round (91st overall) of the 2004 NHL draft.
He played in 925 career games for the Canucks between the 2006-07 and 2020-21 seasons, ranking fourth in franchise history and first among defencemen.
The 38-year-old leads all Vancouver defencemen with 99 goals, 310 assists and 177 power-play points with the team.
Edler also appeared in 82 career post-season contests with Vancouver and was an integral part of the Canucks’ run to the 2011 Stanley Cup final, putting up 11 points (2-9-11) across 25 games.
“I am humbled and honoured to officially end my career and retire as a member of the Vancouver Canucks,” Edler said in a release. “I consider myself lucky to have started my career with such an outstanding organization, in this amazing city, with the best fans in the NHL. Finishing my NHL career where it all began is something very special for myself and my family.”
Edler played two seasons for Los Angeles in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He did not play in the NHL last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The sixth-ranked Canadian women will face World Cup champion Spain in an international friendly next month.
Third-ranked Spain will host Canada on Oct. 25 at Estadio Francisco de la Hera in Almendralejo.
The game will be the first for the Canadian women since the Paris Olympics, where they lost to Germany in a quarterfinal penalty shootout after coach Bev Priestman was sent home and later suspended for a year by FIFA over her part in Canada’s drone-spying scandal.
In announcing the Spain friendly, Canada Soccer said more information on the interim women’s coaching staff for the October window will come later. Assistant coach Andy Spence took charge of the team in Priestman’s absence at the Olympics.
Spain finished fourth in Paris, beaten 1-0 by Germany in the bronze-medal match.
Canada is winless in three previous meetings (0-2-1) with Spain, most recently losing 1-0 at the Arnold Clark Cup in England in February 2022.
The teams played to a scoreless draw in May 2019 in Logroñés, Spain in a warm-up for the 2019 World Cup. Spain won 1-0 in March 2019 at the Algarve Cup in São João da Venda, Portugal.
Spain is a powerhouse in the women’s game these days.
It won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2022 and was runner-up in 2018. And it ousted Canada 2-1 in the round of 16 of the current U-20 tournament earlier this month in Colombia before falling 1-0 to Japan after extra time in the quarterfinal.
Spain won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2018 and 2022 and has finished on the podium on three other occasions.
FC Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati (2023) and Alexia Putellas (2021 and ’22) have combined to win the last three Women’s Ballon d’Or awards.
And Barcelona has won three of the last four UEFA Women’s Champions League titles.
“We continue to strive to diversify our opponent pool while maintaining a high level of competition.” Daniel Michelucci, Canada Soccer’s director of national team operations, said in a statement. “We anticipate a thrilling encounter, showcasing two of the world’s top-ranked teams.”
—
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024
TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced cookie brand Oreo as the team’s helmet sponsor for the upcoming NHL season.
The new helmet will debut Sunday when Toronto opens its 2024-25 pre-season against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
The Oreo logo replaces Canadian restaurant chain Pizza Pizza, which was the Leafs’ helmet sponsor last season.
Previously, social media platform TikTok sponsored Toronto starting in the 2021-22 regular season when the league began allowing teams to sell advertising space on helmets.
The Oreo cookie consists of two chocolate biscuits around a white icing filling and is often dipped in milk.
Fittingly, the Leafs wear the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s “Milk” logo on their jerseys.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
