Wrana’s last shot lifts Northern over Shield for second straight win

TORONTO — It might not have been exactly how Northern United’s Isabella Wranå planned it, but it was the shot she pulled off to secure the victory. 

The match point was on the line as Wranå held the hammer in the seventh end, trailing by two in the women’s fours game against Shield Curling Club, skipped by Kerri Einarson. 

After consulting with general manager Christoffer Svae and captain Bruce Mouat, the call was the make the double, with two options available. Whether or not it was the one Wranå intended is moot at this point as she made the wide double count to score three and defeat Shield 5-4. 

That had Northern howling as the European-based club improved to a 2-0 match record with two points to sit at the top of the standings. Northern defeated Maple United during the opening day of play on Monday.

“I saw it was there, potentially,” said Wranå, who earned gold in mixed doubles at the Winter Olympics and bronze at the women’s worlds this year. “It's always nice to have extra eyes with (third) Sara (McManus) and Bruce and everyone, so it is great.”

Shield opened the women's game with the hammer and the teams traded singles back and forth through the first four ends. After Wranå hit and rolled too far on her last in the fifth, Einarson drew for a deuce and a 4-2 lead. Wranå blanked the sixth to retain the hammer coming home.

Northern's Giulia Zardini Lacedelli and Rasmus Wranå, Isabella's brother, scored four in the eighth end to defeat Shield's Marlee Powers and Jake Horgan 9-6 in mixed doubles, while Mouat fell in the men's fours game, as his crew lost 5-4 to Shield, skipped by Brad Jacobs.

“I'm very proud of the team we have today,” Isabella said. “We just fought all the way through this game and I feel like the girls played really well, so I'm super happy.”

Shield, which topped Alpine in Rock League's series opener, dropped to 1-1. 

Pin to win

The men's game saw the first "pin to win" moment. Teams receive two points for covering the pin in the seventh end during four-player team games and in the eighth end during mixed doubles games.

Shield third Benoît Schwarz-van Berkel made the come-around draw to land on the lid with his second shot, which held up for the two-pointer as Mouat was unable to remove it during skip stones.

Maple tops Typhoon for first win

Maple United earned its first match win after defeating Typhoon Curling Club 2-1 Tuesday afternoon.

Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant led the way, powering the Canadian-based club with a high-scoring 11-5 victory over Tori Koana and Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi in mixed doubles. Peterman and Gallant stole four points in the opening end and never eased up, adding a count of five in the seventh.

"It just felt good to come out and play the way we can," Gallant said. "We played a pretty decent game, our first game. We learned tons about the ice, so just to come out, put what we learned to good use, it felt really good."

The 11 points is a Rock League record for most scored in a single game. Mind you, it's only Day 2 of the inaugural season, but with total points scored used as the tiebreaker in the standings, it's critical to make them all count.

"We want to score as many as we can," Gallant said. "Jocelyn made a real beauty for five in the seventh end. That was a key one for us because we gave up a steal in the sixth, so we just wanted to bounce back with a big end and she made a couple of great shots. Five points, that's great."

Mike McEwen skipped Maple's men's fours team to a 6-3 victory over Typhoon's Niklas Edin. Maple had the hammer coming home up by two, but Typhoon was sitting a pair of stones in the house, including one that looked like it was close enough to the pin hole that would count for two points. That meant fourth Ross Whyte couldn't afford a jam if that rock ended up covering the pin, but no worries, as he executed a perfect double takeout, with his shooter sticking around to tack on another point.

Maple fell short of the sweep though as Typhoon's Anna Hasselborg drew to the four-foot circle with her last shot to score a single and defeat Rachel Homan's crew 6-5 in the women's fours game.

Both franchises hold 1-1 records.

Super spinner fail

You can't even give style points for this one. Peterman and Gallant had shot rock locked in the third end and Peterman attempted to add another with a super-spinner shot.

As they say, there was an attempt.

Peterman is no Niklas Edin as her shooter ended up running into the boards, or close to it, for a rare curling gutter ball.

"Oh my gosh, so embarrassing," Peterman said with a laugh. "I haven't actually thrown a lot of them. It's a lot easier to do the super spinner with the in-turn. I just instinctively started it with the in-turn and then realized that it was not going to go well. Thankfully, I think I saved it enough to get it back to the out-turn and get the right turn on, but got her close to the boards for sure."

"We practise that a little bit, but usually with the in-turns," Gallant added. "It's tougher to do with the out. I think she'll be better the next time."