Rock League semifinals set after Typhoon clinches final berth

TORONTO — Seven points. Typhoon Curling Club just needed to score seven points combined across its pair of mixed fours games Saturday against Northern United to clinch a spot in the Rock League semifinals.

With Typhoon’s Anna Hasselborg scoring a deuce in the fifth end to take a 5-2 lead, the focus shifted to the other sheet as teammate Niklas Edin, trailing 2-1, held the hammer in five as well and just needing another point to secure a playoff berth.

You probably haven’t seen anyone as excited after a draw for one as Edin helped Typhoon score enough total points to secure a berth for Sunday’s playoffs, joining Northern, Shield Curling Club and Alpine Curling Club in the final four. 

Although Edin went on to lose 6-2, Hasselborg never trailed once in her game and was victorious 5-4 as Typhoon not only advanced but also leapfrogged Shield for the No. 3 spot in the standings, setting up a rematch against No. 2 Northern.

“So much fun,” Hasselborg said. “It was cool yesterday. We talked about the different lineups and the whole group thought that I should play skip and last, and they had full confidence … so that was awesome.” 

Typhoon entered the rink on the outside looking in, sitting in fifth place and tied in match points with Maple United, which swept its pair of games (5-4, 5-4) earlier Saturday over Shield Curling Club. Maple also held the tiebreaker, with 97 total points scored and Typhoon entering the day at 91. 

If they had ended up level on total points scored, then it would have gone to their head-to-head round-robin result, which Maple won 2-1 on Tuesday. 

While the round robin consisted of men’s fours, women’s fours and mixed doubles, Saturday’s matchups switched the formula to mixed fours. Hasselborg and Alpine’s Alina Pätz were the only two female curlers who threw last and called the game for the mixed fours stage. 

The two-time Olympic gold medallist Hasselborg appreciated that her franchise had total faith in her to deliver.

“I think we had a great lineup,” said Hasselborg, who was flanked by third Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi, second/vice skip Chinami Yoshida and lead Anton Hood. “Anton kept throwing lead as he did, so we kept all the natural positions except for (Yamaguchi). He came in and did a really, really good job at third. We had so much fun. It was just a great game.” 

Hasselborg squared off against Northern skip Yannick Schwaller, who was supported by third Isabella Wranå, second Rasmus Wranå and lead Giulia Zardini Lacedelli.

Edin's lineup consisted of third Min-ji Kim, second Bobby Lammie and lead Ye-eun Seol. They faced Northern skip Bruce Mouat, third Sara McManus, second Robin Brydone and lead Jennifer Dodds.

Typhoon is Rock League’s most diverse franchise, featuring players from six different countries — China, Japan, New Zealand, Scotland, South Korea and Sweden — plus Canada’s J.D. Lind as the general manager.

Communications issues were to be expected among the different language barriers, but through the universal language of curling they were able to come together and work it out.

“I definitely think we are the team for everyone,” Hasselborg explained. “I think where we know that we have struggles, it's so obvious that we have to talk things through. Maybe we have talked things through that the other teams haven't because we need to.

"We thought if something happened that wasn't good, we say that a little bit more than a normal team because you would do that in a normal team too, but maybe not in a franchise that’s just getting to know each other. Here it's so obvious we need to do that because it could be, 'Oh, I didn't understand that word. What were you saying? Or did we say too much? I couldn't hear when you were saying,' so many words or stuff like that. I just think that we have learned from every game.” 

Hasselborg said they’re also having a great time bonding off the ice as well.

“Everyone is so kind and everything,” she said. “Everyone is having so much fun, and I think we share the same humour. We're having a lot of fun, and that's really cool for being seven nations.”

Earlier Saturday, Alpine split its mixed fours match (6-5, 5-6) against Frontier Curling Club, which needed to win both games to stay in contention.

The playoffs revert to the round-robin format featuring men’s fours, women’s fours and mixed doubles. The first franchise to win two games will claim the victory.