Obviously, there is a lot of curling left to be played at the women’s world championship, but Tuesday night’s round-robin match between Canada and Switzerland felt like a potential preview for Sunday’s final. 

The newcomer skip from Switzerland, Xenia Schwaller, pulled out the 6-5 victory in an extra end over Canada’s Team Kerri Einarson with a perfect draw to the lid. With the win, Switzerland now sits atop the table with a 6-1 record while Canada became the last team to lose in the bonspiel, falling to 5-1.

Despite the loss, Einarson didn’t think her Canadian rink played badly.

“We didn’t play terrible, we just had a shot here or there that didn’t go our way,” Einarson said in her post-game interview with the broadcast. “Just a couple shots that either I missed just a little bit heavy, or just missing the runs just a little bit. Yeah, just a smidgen off, but we weren’t too far off.”

It was tough to score for either team as the only multi-point end came in the 10th with Canada down 5-3 when Einarson made a thin hit to score the deuce and force an extra. 

Afterwards, Einarson was sure to give Schwaller and her team, whose average age is 22.5, their flowers.

“Team Schwaller is a great team, we’ve played them on tour numerous times and they played very well,” Einarson, 38, said.

Going forward for Canada, there isn’t reason to be concerned with how anyone is playing, and Einarson knows it. 

“I think if we can just keep bringing that intensity and that confidence going forward, I think we should be okay,” she said.

So, how did Schwaller hand Einarson her first loss? Here is a look at that, as well as other takeaways from Tuesday’s action.

The way Schwaller plays on the ice, you’d think she’s 35 years old and has been in this situation numerous times. That couldn’t be further from the truth, though. 

The 23-year-old skip won the world junior championships (U21) just two years ago and is now dominating teams on the senior stage — something that, realistically, never happens in curling. 

Forget the fact Schwaller made a double takeout and then a draw with only the button to shoot at in the extra end to earn the victory, she also had Einarson chasing the entire game and forced her to make difficult shots.

The stats proved it. Schwaller outcurled Einarson 88-72. 

Through Tuesday, Schwaller ranks second amongst skips in overall percentage with 81.7, but would be even higher if it weren’t for her first game, where she was adjusting to the ice and only shot 63 per cent. 

It doesn’t seem Schwaller is interested in the whole ‘you’ve got to lose to know how to win’ motto.

The unsung hero for Canada this week might be third Val Sweeting, who is in the house calling line when Einarson is throwing skip stones. 

Because even though Einarson has looked phenomenal this week with some of the shots she has made right out of her hand, there have been a handful of times Sweeting has worked some magic. 

As soon as the rock is released, she is communicating with the rest of the team about weight and how the line looks — like any good third should — but the difference is her decision-making. 

Right away, she has a Plan A, B and sometimes even C with how the rock was released. Obviously, Plan A is the shot that was called to begin with, but so far in the tournament there have been a couple Einarson misses that have been better for the team.

It’s because when Sweeting recognizes Plan A isn’t going to work anymore, she won’t give up on the stone and will switch to the next best thing. 

She’s also done an outstanding job at understanding certain paths where the ice will either grip or curl more. Right before the spot in the ice, she will call on Shannon Birchard and Karlee Burgess so they can either drag or hold the rock straight. 

Eun-ji’s improved play is driving Korea’s success 

After Monday’s games, it was hard to tell who might make the playoffs from the teams that were in the middle of the pack because of inconsistent play. 

At the time, Korea’s Gim Eun-ji, the No. 4-ranked squad in the world, was part of that group. But after winning two more games on Tuesday, including a 12-3 rout of Australia, to extend Korea’s win streak to four games and improve their record to 5-2, it’s safe to say they’re rolling.

It wasn’t a pretty start for the Koreans after three games, Eun-ji in particular. They had a 1-2 record, with a rough 9-5 loss to Japan — a strong team, but one Korea has beaten in the past. 

In the game, Eun-ji’s front end of Seol Ye-eun and Kim Su-ji played outstandingly. They curled 99 and 90 per cent respectively. Korea’s third Kim Min-ji didn’t have her best game, but still shot a decent 78 per cent. 

Eun-ji was the problem. She shot just 58 per cent and gave up four stolen points in the game. 

Since then, she’s played a lot more like herself. No game for Eun-ji has been below 80 per cent and as a result, the team has been able to put more pressure on their opponents to force mistakes. Just like in their game against Turkey in the afternoon on Tuesday, when they stole four points in the fourth end to blow the game open.