Leslie Ingram-Brown reports from the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, "This morning's game having been cancelled due to the power cut during the night, Round 2 Red Group was to be the first outing for Duncan Menzies, Angharad Ward, Thomas Muirhead and Rachel Hannen taking on Sweden's Rasmus Wrana.What should be remembered is that Wrana is an experienced skip at junior level. Indeed it is his team, which includes second Jordan Wahlin, which will be representing Sweden at the World Juniors' at Ostersund in March having defeated Oskar Eriksson's 'dream team' in the final of the Swedish Junior Championship.
The first end opened poorly for GBR and with Sweden lying shots in the house Wrana played a well controlled hit, raise and take-out with his final stone for four shots. Had Menzies played the wrong shot, maybe, but hindsight is a great thing and later after the game he said as much.
Second end and GBR got on the board with Menzies drawing for a single against two and in the third Wrana had a very rare miss and it was a steal of only a single shot, which as it turned out, was the only steal of the game.
The fourth and fifth ends were played strongly by GBR but on both occasions Wrana saved Sweden and the scoreline did not bulge with two blank ends being recorded.
Sixth end was saved for GBR by Menzies as he drew second against three shots. Wrana attempted draw for two shots was just heavy to the four foot. In the seventh Menzies hit for two and at 4-5 GBR were back in the game with an end to go.
In the eighth end Menzies drew to lie two but Sweden played a perfect tap for a single shot and the 6-4 victory.
Afterwards Menzies was not too disheartened. On the first end he blamed himself saying, "Perhaps I played the wrong shot." He was full of praise for Wrana. "He kept Sweden in the
game laying really good shots to blank (ends) four and five. The ice and stones were fine."Tomorrow Team GB plays Germany and Canada.
The surprise result of this afternoon was Austria's stunning 6-5 win over Canada with their skip Mathias Grener drawing for the win after Canada had failed with a simple double takeout at the back of the house to ensure at least an extra end."
SWE * 4000 0101 = 6
GBR 0110 0020 = 4
All the other results can be found here.
Top photo: Duncan Menzies delivers, Rachel Hannen and Thomas Muirhead are the sweepers.
World Curling Federation President Kate Caithness seeks a Norwegian view on the appropriateness of Loudmouth jackets as the official uniform for WCF representatives. (Other captions are available).
Ice techs Wayne Cubbon (left) and Mark Shurek had extra work to do today, after the loss of the plant overnight.
In action from the Blue Section, New Zealand third Eleanor Adviento is in charge of the head, being watched by Switzerland's Michael Brunner and Elena Stern. The Swiss won this one.Photos courtesy of Leslie Ingram-Brown
