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Shot heard 'round the rink clinches U.S. win in curling
By Julie Dockstader Heaps
Deseret News Olympic specialist
OGDEN — It was the shot heard 'round the world. Or at least reverberating around the walls of The Ice Sheet here.
With his team leading 4-3 in the seventh end Monday morning, U.S. skip Tim Somerville smacked his last stone of the end into a guard stone, causing a chain reaction that sent opposing Sweden's lone stone out of the house, leaving four American stones.
One moment Sweden was posed to tie the score, the next moment the U.S. was up 8-3. That four-point turnaround led Team Somerville to upset the defending world champions and send fans into a frenzy, chanting "U.S.A.!" and waving American flags.
Both teams scored two more points in the eighth end, but Sweden conceded the last end, giving the U.S. a 10-5 victory in the first round of curling competition in the 2002 Winter Games in Ogden.
"I couldn't ask for a better shot and the timing," Somerville, a three-time Olympian, said following the draw. "We had a good read on the shot and played it."
A shot like that, he added, is one in 20. "We got fortunate. I already feel I won a medal."
Even Sweden's skip Peja Lindholm raised his broom in salute to Somerville after the shot.
Sweden's Peter Narup added, "If he didn't make it perfect, it would've been tied, but he made a beautiful shot."
However, as Somerville said, the Americans have "a long journey" ahead.
In other morning draws, medal favorite Canada defeated Great Britain 6-4.
(In these Olympic Games, Scotland is representing Great Britain.) Germany beat France, 9-5; and Finland pounded Denmark, 9-3.
"It was nice to get past Scotland," Canada's skip Kevin Martin said.
Scotland, then competing under its own name, won the 1999 world championships. Scotland's skip Hammy McMillan is back as Great Britain's skip.
Men's and women's competition continued throughout the day. During the afternoon draws for the women, a 4-point fifth end helped lift Canada over Sweden, 5-4; Great Britain beat Norway, 10-6; Switzerland beat Denmark, 9-8; and Russia lost to Germany, 8-5.
The U.S. and Japan drew byes.
Speaking of the disappointing fifth end, Sweden skip Elisabet Gustafson said, "It started bad; our guard was too short and after that we were chasing," but, she added, "it's not the end of the world."
In evening men's play, the U.S. lost to medal-favorite Canada, 8-3. In other games, Norway lost to Switzerland, 5-4; Denmark beat France, 8-7; and Finland lost to Germany, 7-6.
The Ice Sheet was nearly filled with fans, unlike previous curling competitions such as the 2001 World Junior Curling Championships and the U.S. Olympic Curling Trials when stands were only about a third to half full. And many are for the home teams. "The other team (Scotland) remarked that (fan support) might be against them," Somerville said, speaking of the raucous crowd.
"Home, it's a good feeling," he added.
E-MAIL: julied@desnews.com
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February 12, 2002
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