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14.04.2009
Once again, we were “only” fourth
What a week! After starting out at the World Championships with a perfect (and really rather lucky) win against the subsequent World Champions, Scotland, after an extra end, we were really shaken up. With tricky, but fair, ice conditions at the beginning of the week (with plenty of frost, since it initially proved impossible to extract the high humidity from the hall) we repeatedly had trouble with our draw length and with our accuracy.
As a result, a tough and painful defeat after an extra end at the hands of Germany was followed, that same day, by a cold shower against the USA. Then, on Monday we were back on our winning streak with a hotly contested victory against Denmark. After that it was the French who proved the stumbling block; just as occurred in Edmonton two years ago. After five games, we had recorded only two wins and three defeats and we knew that - on paper at least - Tuesday would be tougher still.
We were not alone in failing to make any headway against the then still unbeaten Canadians, and we opted out of the curling lesson they were giving us after 7 ends. By now we knew that we could not afford to lose another game if were to achieve our objective: the playoffs.
Our team went into a huddle and concluded that we needed to reconfigure a little for the game against Norway. After talking through various options, the team decided unanimously that Eggi should act as skip to relieve Ralph of the twin burden of last stones and the role of skip. This reshuffle took the Norwegians by surprise we narrowly defeated them in a defensive, but nonetheless high-quality contest.
That performance put us back in the race. The success of our reshuffling encouraged us to keep this line-up until the end of the round robin phase and we succeeded in achieving our aim of four wins: against Japan, the Czech Republic, Finland and China. By the end of the round robin we lay in third place, together with the USA, Norway and Germany, each of us having achieved 7 wins and 4 defeats. Canada won the round robin with 10/1 ahead of Scotland with 8/3.
Two tiebreak games were then needed to decide who would go forward into the final of the playoff. Norway outclassed the USA and we (at last) defeated the Andi Kapp team – a ‘first’ for our current team - with the very last stone bringing a result in our favour. Then, in the final playoffs, it was the team in third place against that occupying the fourth place.
Our second game against the Ulsrud Boys was also extremely well-matched and thrilling. Once again it was the last stone that brought us a highly acclaimed win. We were thus in the semi-finals, where we faced the big favourites, Canada, since the Scots, to everyone’s immense surprise, had beaten them for the second time in 24 hours, this time in the playoff game (first place against second place).
Having achieved seven wins on the trot, we started out confidently. Canada (having suffered two successive defeats) treated us with considerable respect at the outset and showed less of the offensive style that had so characterised their week up to this point. After five ends it was 1 : 2 for Kevin Martin and his crew. The decider came in the sixth end. Before our last stone, Canada lay shot with two stones and had the advantage of the last stone. After a timeout we decided to go for the riskiest stone in order to force the Canadians to a point. That stone was actually pretty good, but it was not beyond the skills of Kevin Martin. Thanks to a beautiful tap, the Canadians managed three points – and that was the preliminary decision. We did out utmost, with an offensive game. However, it just wasn’t enough and we had to bury our dreams of entering the final with a final result of 5:6 that was more decisive than that final result would suggest.
On Sunday we therefore embarked (with a rather heavy heart) on the bronze medal decider – another game against Norway. This new system whereby the loser of the playoff finals, the third placed team, plays against the team lying fourth was introduced last year. This means another chance for a medal, a formula that many spectators, journalists and players are at rather a loss to understand.
As in our two preceding encounters, this game also turned out to be a thrilling one. With the very last stone Thomas Ulsrud broke up our freeze, snatching our last chance from us. Our hopes of at least winning bronze were thus also dashed.
This was a real disappointment for us – and the pain lingers on since we had been determined to come home with a medal. Nonetheless we can be quite proud of our achievement since, after our rather sticky start, we put up an impressive fight and did manage to reach the playoffs. Now, we can do nothing other than work hard on ourselves and on our game so as not to lose out against the stiff and truly professional competition.
Our thanks go to all those who made our totally unforgettable World Championship venture possible. Once more, we would like to express our deep gratitude to the following (who are listed in no special order):
- Swiss Curling
- Swiss Olympic
- Hochstrasser Kaffee
- Hauser Gärten
- Effectconsulting
- Bio-Strath AG
- Hotel Bern
- H2O
- Goldline
- Kandahar Schuhfabrik
- Praxisklinik Rennbahn AG
- Jörg Wetzel
- CC Basel-Regio
- Curling Zentrum Arlesheim
- CC Blauweiss Luzern
- our wives/girlfriends/friends and families
- all our fans on the spot in the curling arena
- all our fans back home who believed in us and who kept their fingers crossed for us
- and all those who sent us supportive emails and text messages.
A big THANK YOU to everyone!
We wish you all a beautiful Spring, an excellent Summer and look forward to the ultra-important upcoming season 2009/2010.
Sporting greetings from the
Team Stöckli
Simon, Markus, Jan, Ralph, Toni and Russ
Link to the photogallery
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04.04.2009
The 50th World Championships have officially begun
This Afternoon we tested the ice for the first time. Then in the evening we attended the opening banquet and the impressive, but rather long opening ceremony (3 hours).
Countless of the 49 past World Champions where there (Otto Danieli, Peja Lindholm, Egil Ramsfjell).
We are glad, our waiting is over and the games begin tomorrow. Our first game will be against the reigning European Champion, Scotland (David Murdoch).
On Sunday we continue the tournament against, Germany (Kapp) and the USA (Shuster).
Here you can find the first pictures of the opening ceremony.
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