WMDCC2008: Finland beats Canada and advances to semifinals

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Jaakko Uusitupa
Finland took the final place in semifinals by beating Canada 9-8 in extra-end thriller and will face Sweden tonight. Canada, which took the long way to the last qualification game by beating first Hungary in tie-breaker and this morning Czech Republic in first qualification game, will get the fifth place in the competition.

Finland took the opening point with the hammer, but run into trouble in the second after completely missing a take-out. Canada was able to capitalize its chance and Susan O'Connor threw the third point into the tee. Jussi Uusipaavalniemi and Anne Malmi of Finland then decided to play with even more rocks in play and make also Canada to attend more risky shots. In the third all the Finnish rocks were in the house and Malmi had even a slightly risky shot for four with her last, but Finland decided to play safe and get three with a draw. It succeeded and so it was 4-3 to Finland.

In the fourth Canada had again the control and after a missed tap-back by Finland it was again Canada to score relatively easy three. After the half-time break there were again many rocks in play. Several succesful freezes and tap-backs were played by both teams and at the end Finland got a single point after a measure for two. In the sixth Finland got stones in the good position on the top of the button and Canada was forced to peel out guards. The fourth Canadian stone wasn't able to move all the Finnish rocks and one was sitting in the middle of the house touching Canadian stones at the back of the button. Finland threw a guard and Canada had to attend a runback that should've touched the side of Finnish stone to move it, but the shot didn't curl and Finland tied the game to 6-6 with a steal of one.

In the seventh Finland was in some trouble after the opening stones, but managed to reduce Canadian points to two after a few succesful tap-backs. In the eight both teams were unable to get their first stones into the house, but then Dean Ross of Canada played a perfect freeze on the Finnish place stone in the house. At this point it looked really good for Canadian side as Finland had to take two points to force an extra end. Finland didn't go into peeling out the guards but played corner freezes on the Canadian stone instead. Canada played another guard until they did attemp to freeze on top of their own stone with their fourth. The shot by Ross was too heavy and clinched the Finnish place stone at the back of the button, moved it a little and made it possible for Uusipaavalniemi to tap it back and lie three until the last shot Canadian stone. Susan O'Connor had to draw exactly to the button under heavy pressure which she did. Still Finland had two choices: Almost straight hit along the centre line to move the Canadian stone just that much it the two Finnish stones at the top four foot would grand an extra end or to come by Finland's own stone on the side of the house and tap the Canadian stone completely out of the eight foot circle which would mean straigth win for Finland. After a discussion when the clock was ticking last two minutes Anne Malmi decided to attemp the easier shot along centre line. She made the shot, tapped Canadian stone back and so it was an extra end for the enjoyment of yelling crowd.

In extra end Malmi threw first a draw to the top four. Freeze by O'Connor was way too slow and it was a second guard. Uusipaavalniemi moved the Finnish stone just that much it was first shot, completely buried and sitting on top of Canadian place stone at the back four. Now Ross was to clear the guards and took two of them out. Finland played a centre guard again. Now Ross threw a double of the Finnish stones in the house leaving only a single Canadian stone at the back of the button. Uusipaavalniemi had to make the freeze with his last and he succeeded perfectly. Now Ross tried to tap the Finnish rock away from the button, but wasn't able to move it enough. Malmi threw another guard front of the house with the very last stone of Finland. Now it was O'Connor again under the pressure. She had the tap back but it would need to be just the perfect shot so Canada decided to go for for a run-back with the Finnish guards well front of the house. It would've been enough to just hit the Finnish stone and move it away, but the shot didn't curl and it was a victory for the Finns!

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