In Monday afternoon’s draw of the World Senior Curling Championships 2022, the men and women of Team USA found themselves side by side at Curling Club Trois-Chêne /Genève, competing against Finland in what was the third game of competition for the men and the second game of the competition for the women.

Both teams unbeaten going into the draw, the U.S. teams competing on sheets five and six kept their games close through the first half of play.

In the women’s matchup, the Smith-skipped rink scored a tricky single point in the third end by executing a runback takeout into a crowded house. However, the Finnish women were quick to answer, scoring a deuce to close the first half after a U.S. freeze attempt slid deep into the back of the house.

The sixth end proved troublesome for the United States. A few missed draw attempts under an early-placed center guard left Finland a takeout for five, but a jam on a U.S. stone in the back of the house limited the damage to four points for Finland.

The women built what looked to be a promising seventh end with potential to counter their three-point deficit, but a perfectly placed freeze followed by a double takeout from Finland resulted in a stolen point, further extending Finland’s lead to 8-4.

Ultimately, the U.S. women ran out of stones in the final end, evening their record at 1-1.

On the men’s side, Bob LeClair put the pressure on the Finnish men early, forcing them to one in the first end, and then stealing three consecutive points in the second, third, and fourth ends. Leading by two at the halfway mark, Team USA opened the second half with a steal of three to extend their lead to five points.

In the sixth end, Team USA froze to a Finnish stone that sat in the back four foot and proceeded to keep it buried under guards the remainder of the end, resulting in the steal of another point for the LeClair-skipped team.

Team USA kept Finland to a score of two in the seventh before running them out of stones in the eighth end, securing a third victory for the U.S. men.

“Well, we’re scoring more points than the other team,” smiled Fred Maxie, third for Team USA, after being asked what has been going well for the undefeated American squad.

Team USA crawled back to top Australia in their previous game, finding a win by stealing in the extra end.

“You have to forget about that game from yesterday because we shouldn’t have been in the kind of trouble we were in to begin with,” added Maxie. “It was good that we made some shots to come back, but that was yesterday and we’re on to today now.”

With each passing game, Team USA continues to build confidence on the ice.

“The swing of the ice took us a little bit to get used to, so we’re playing better now that we’ve got a better understanding of where to put the broom and what kind of weight to throw,” concluded Maxie.

Both Senior U.S. teams will return to the ice tomorrow morning as the men (3-0) take on Italy (2-0) and the women (1-1) face Switzerland (1-1).  

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USA Curling fans can follow the standings and live scoring through World Curling Federation’s website.

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