There’s something about a loss that tells you a little more than a win ever could.
For Kerri Einarson and Team Canada, that lesson came Tuesday night in Calgary.
After opening the week with five straight victories, the Canadians finally hit a speed bump at the World Women’s Curling Championship, falling 6-5 in an extra end to Switzerland’s Xenia Schwaller.
And yet, if you listened closely afterward, there wasn’t panic in the Canadian camp, just perspective. Because this one easily could have gone the other way.
Einarson had the game in her hand in the 10th end, staring down a chance to remove three Swiss stones and score what would have been a dramatic three for the win. She was inches off. Close enough to feel it. Not close enough to end it.
Instead, it went one more.
In the extra, she buried her final stone in a near-perfect spot, tucked into the four-foot. But Schwaller answered as elite teams do by drawing to the button for the win.
Game over. Streak over. Reality check delivered.
Einarson and Team Canada now sit at 5-1, still firmly in the hunt and, maybe more importantly, still learning.
“I thought we played pretty good, and we made some really big shots. If we keep that going forward, we should be OK.”
Neither side could really generate much offence. Deuces were hard to come by. Big ends were there, briefly, then gone. A miss here, a half-shot there, and suddenly both teams were grinding for singles.
Canada had its chances to open things up.
In the fifth end, four straight runback attempts didn’t connect, turning a potential momentum swing into a scramble to salvage one. Later, a hog-line violation by Val Sweeting helped swing control back to the Swiss at a critical moment.
And still, Canada hung around.
“That’s something to be proud of,” lead Karlee Burgess said. “We had a really good opportunity in 10… we hung tough and stayed in it.”
Earlier in the day, Einarson’s rink showed exactly what it can be at its best, a 9-6 win over Italy in the morning draw, giving them a perfect 5-0 start before the evening stumble.
A split day. A long week. Exactly what you expect at this level.
And here’s the other truth Burgess pointed out, the one that matters as much as any shot made or missed: nobody goes undefeated here.
“It’s such a long week. We’re not even halfway through yet.”
That might be the most important line of the night.
Canada is right back on the ice for a doubleheader on Wednesday, taking on Turkey in the morning before a prime-time matchup with Scotland.
