Team Canada misses playoffs at World Junior Mixed Doubles Championship after loss to Team Switzerland
The comeback kids ran into a team that wouldn’t let them dig themselves out of an early hole and the end result was Team Canada missing the playoffs at the Booster Juice World Junior Mixed Doubles Championship at the Saville Community Sports Centre in Edmonton.
Dominique Vivier of Navan, Ont., and Nick Codner of Torbay, N.L., along with coach Laura Walker, fell behind early Saturday and while they forced Team Switzerland’s Elodie Tschudi and Nathan Dryburgh to make their final stone of the game, the Canadians fell 5-3.
That dropped Canada’s record to 4-2, not good enough to be one of the two teams advancing out of the pool. Those spots went to Team South Korea and Team Switzerland, which finished tied at 5-1.
“When the other team is curling just as well or a little bit better than you, it’s hard to dig yourself out of the hole like we have the last couple of days,” said Codner. “Obviously it sucks right now but looking back at the week there’s a lot of positives. We were 4-2 and we’re going to be sitting out tomorrow and that sucks but that’s all you can do.”
Vivier and Codner lost their first game 11-5 to South Korea and posted four straight wins before Saturday’s defeat.
“It was a really good week, honestly,” Vivier said. “We kept getting better each game, kept building on everything we wanted to work on. Our chemistry got better as well. You bond through those moments when you play together at world championships.
“Overall, I’m very proud. It was my first worlds, I think it was his as well. We were one win away from making playoffs, so it was a pretty good week. I think we represented Canada pretty well and I hope to do it again next year.”
Team Switzerland scored one in the first end, then stole two in the second by capitalizing on two close misses by Team Canada. From there, the team traded singles.
“It wasn’t anything big,” Vivier said of the difference in the game. “I don’t think there was much difference. We didn’t give up five in the first end so that was a big difference. It was just one shot here, one shot there. It’s just sometimes … happens.”
Codner said Saturday’s game wasn’t their best performance, but “to be honest, you play curling to be in those games and couple of rocks short. Kind of back-and-forth game. They would give us a chance and we couldn’t capitalize and when the roles were reversed, they really buried us.
“It’s been a hell of a week. Every game but one came down to the last rock.”
Walker, coaching Team Canada at worlds for the first time, said working with the pair was a rewarding experience.
“They’re two of the most coachable athletes I’ve ever worked with. At this age, that’s what you’re looking for. They took our debrief and they brought it into the next game. Every little piece of advice I had, they acted on.”
Walker is hopeful the pair will consider pairing up again in the future.
“They understand each other really well. They support each other well. They know how to work together. It would be a shame to see them stop here.”
Advancing out of the other pools were Team Italy (6-0) and Team Sweden (5-1) in Pool A; Team Scotland (5-1) and Team U.S.A. (5-1) in Pool B; Team Denmark (7-0) and Team Germany (6-1) in Pool B.
In today’s 6 p.m. quarterfinals, Italy plays the U.S.A, South Korea meets Germany, Denmark takes on Switzerland and Scotland plays Sweden.
The semifinals go Sunday at 10 a.m. followed by the bronze-medal and gold-medal games at 3 p.m.
