World Junior Curling Championships 2020 Review

The World Junior Curling Championships came to a close in Krasnoyarsk, Russia for Team Scotland on Saturday 22nd February after the Junior Men’s team of James Craik, Mark Watt, Blair Haswell, Niall Ryder, Angus Bryce and coach Iain Watt defeated Germany for the Bronze medal.

L-R Iain Watt, Angus Bryce, Niall Ryder, Blair Haswell, Mark Watt, James Craik

The Scottish men lost their first two games in the round robin, to Italy and Russia, but fought back really hard the rest of the week to finish top of the table when the round robin was completed.

Men’s Standings (W-L):

Scotland 7-2

Canada 7-2

Germany 6-3

Switzerland 5-4

Sweden 5-4

Russia 5-4

USA 4-5

New Zealand 3-6

Italy 2-7

Norway 1-8

Scotland faced fourth placed Switzerland in straight semi finals. They were 3-1 up at the fifth end break. In the sixth end, Switzerland made a difficult double take-out to score three points and then in the eighth end Scotland chose to gamble by playing a guard but the Swiss scored another three points by making a very good tap-back, to take a 7-4 lead. The game was still close however. Scotland scored two points in the ninth end to make the score 7-6 for Switzerland going into the tenth end. Switzerland’s fourth player was left with an open take-out with his last shot which saw them clinch the victory.

Skip, James Craik, said “We left it all out on the ice today, we gave it our best. We made a ton of shots and we put them under pressure – they had the answers this time. They put us under a lot of pressure, and we got out of it. Our whole story this week has been that from a rocky start we’ve fired back straight away, and we intend to do that tomorrow and come out fighting.”

Scotland v Germany

And fighting they did. Scotland faced Germany, who had lost their semi-final to Canada. The teams exchanged two points in the first 4 ends and the game was tied at 2-2 at the fifth end. Scotland took a 6-3 lead after scoring three points in the seventh end and stealing a single point in the eighth end. They entered the tenth end with Scotland having a 6-5 lead. Germany were lying one counter when James, with his last stone, played a heavy take-out through a port to remove the German stone and claim the Bronze medals.

James reviewed the game by saying, “That was very back and forth all the way through. The German guys played fantastic and put us under a pile of pressure. We’re just delighted to come out on top and get a medal for Scotland.

In the tenth his last just over-curled and left me a peel. I didn’t have much of it, but I’d thrown that line as few times, so I was quite happy to put the brush down and chuck it.

It’s amazing to win bronze. As soon as we made the play-offs we had our hearts set on a medal, and to walk away with one is unbelievable. It’s maybe not the colour we all were dreaming of, but it’s certainly a great starting point.

My team has dug in and stuck with me all through the week. They have played phenomenal and they have shot unbelievable numbers all week. I couldn’t ask for a better unit to be around me, especially with all that’s gone on this week.”