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Eight Ends: Feltscher extends Swiss reign at women’s worlds

Switzerland maintained its spot at the top of the women’s curling mountain Sunday.

Binia Feltscher skipped the Swiss side to the world title defeating Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa 9-6 during Sunday’s gold-medal game in Swift Current, Sask.

After a conservative first half that saw Feltscher leading 2-1 at the fifth-end break, Fujisawa broke the game open jumping ahead with a deuce in six. Switzerland pulled back with a three-ender in seven, but Japan matched with a trey in eight to make it 6-5. Feltscher made a clutch shot for two in the ninth to snatch back the lead 7-6 and forced Fujisawa to a draw attempt for a single in the final end to tie it, but her shot rolled heavy and iced the game for Switzerland.

Team Feltscher, who also won the title in 2014, haven’t had an easy season battling through adversity with third Irene Schori’s fight against cancer. Her story is an inspiration and Schori was selected by her fellow curlers as the winner of the Francis Brodie Award as the most sportsmanlike player at the event.

1st End: Can Swiss connect four?

Switzerland is making winning the world women’s title routine. Not only is it Feltscher’s second title in three years, the nation has now won three in a row with compatriot Alina Paetz taking gold last year.

Add Mirjam Ott’s championship in 2012 and that’s four titles for the Swiss in five years.

Just winning the Swiss national title is proving to be tough too with Feltscher not only facing Paetz but also Tour Challenge Tier 1 champ Silvana Tirinzoni in order to get to the world stage.

This now raises the question about whether Switzerland can win a fourth consecutive women’s title next year with Canada the last to accomplish the four-peat from 1984-87.

2nd End: Japan wins first world women’s curling medal

Sasuki Fujisawa and Team Japan stole the show on their unpredictable run to the final. Although they came up just short in their quest for gold, the silver lining of their silver win is that it was Japan’s first medal at the event ever.

Japan has come along way since hosting the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics — when curling returned to the games as a medal sport — to now being able to compete for world championships.

3rd End: Russia takes the bronze

Anna Sidorova and her Russian squad topped Canada for the third spot on the podium.

Sidorova led 5-2 after the fifth-end break following back-to-back single steals, but Chelsea Carey and Team Canada looked to shift the momentum with a deuce in six and a steal of two in seven to pull ahead. However, a three-ender in eight gave Russia the lead back and Canada knotted it up with two in nine to tie it heading home.

Russia held the hammer in the final end and Sidorova made her last shot count to edge Carey 9-8 for bronze. It’s Sidorova’s third consecutive bronze at the worlds as her team continues to be a perennial powerhouse at the event.

4th End: Canada left empty-handed

It was tough to see Team Canada finish out of the medals for the first time since 2009 with a gold-medal drought now stretching back to 2008.

Although inconsistencies affected Carey’s team throughout the week, it’s not so much that there’s a problem with Canada, it’s more so the rest of the world has caught up. Sidorova defeated Carey three times in total during the week including the bronze medal game.

Finishing off the podium denied Team Carey a guaranteed spot for the 2017 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, however, they’ll have another shot at a national title holding the Team Canada auto-berth for next year’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts in St. Catharines, Ont.

Meanwhile, 2013 world champ Eve Muirhead of Scotland finished the round robin with a 7-4 record and missed the playoffs altogether, not even a tiebreaker on the table to extend her week. The level of competition around the globe is just that much better these days with little room for error.

5th End: R.I.P. Vic Peters

The curling world is mourning the loss of legendary skip Vic Peters, who passed away Sunday night at the age of 60 following a lengthy bout with cancer.

Peters captured the Brier in 1992 and earned the bronze medal at the worlds representing Canada.

He won his third Manitoba provincial title in 1997 and finished runner-up to Kevin Martin at the Brier that year.

Peters was part of Manitoba’s “Big Three” during the 1990s alongside Kerry Burtnyk and Jeff Stoughton as the trio combined to win four Brier titles and two world championships. He was also one of the “Original 18” skips playing in the inaugural Grand Slam of Curling event at the 2001 Canadian Open.

6th End: Men’s world championship ready to start

The world men’s curling championship gets underway Saturday in Basel, Switzerland. Brier winner Kevin Koe of Calgary will represent Canada and faces a field that includes defending champion Niklas Edin of Sweden, Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud, and Scotland’s Tom Brewster among others.

Canada last won the world men’s gold in 2012 — skipped by Glenn Howard and featuring current Team Koe second Brent Laing — and Team Koe should be considered the favourites as they top the leaderboard on the World Curling Tour’s year-to-date order of merit. On top of the Brier, Koe has also captured the Tour Challenge and Canada Cup titles this season.

7th End: Rocque wins 2nd consecutive Canadian university title

Kelsey Rocque has gone from from back-to-back world junior champ to back-to-back Canadian university champ.

Rocque skipped the Alberta Pandas to their second consecutive CIS university championship this past Wednesday.

The Pandas defeated the Thompson Rivers Wolfpack, skipped by 2013 Canadian junior champ Corryn Brown, 5-4 with a steal in the extra end.

Meanwhile, Aaron Squires and the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks avenged a loss to Alberta Golden Bears’ Thomas Scoffin in last year’s final to win the 2016 CIS men’s title 7-4.

A bonus for Rocque and Squires’s teams is they will both represent Canada at the 2017 Winter Universiade in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

8th End: Players’ Championship coming soon

The sixth event of the 2015-16 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season is just around the corner. The Players’ Championship runs April 12-17 at Ryerson’s Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto. Expect an announcement for the teams and draw schedule soon.