U.S. Women’s Olympic Curling Team Slips Down Further

U.S. Skip Debbie McCormick delivers as Nicole Joraanstad and Natalie Nicholson sweep during the Women's Curling round robin game against Denmark at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Jamie Squire/Getty Images

The U.S. Women’s Olympic Curling team continued its journey of disappointment, losing to Denmark 8–5 in a game they could have won at several points.

The game came down to which team made the fewer terrible shots and strategy errors—and both teams made plenty of both. The United States team didn’t plan aggressively when it had a chance to score big, and Denmark only survived its errors because the U.S. seemed to miss in every clutch opportunity.

The U.S. fell behind 2–0, then came back in the third end with two points to tie the game. By the fifth end, the U.S. was ahead 4–2.

The sixth and seventh ends were the turning points in the game.

In the sixth end, America was lying three, with a chance to seal the victory. U.S. Skip Debbie McCormick opted to set a guard but shot long, leaving the Danish squad with a chance to draw for a point, instead of losing three.

Denmark’s Madeleine DuPont, who had missed every draw so far, managed to lay a stone onto the edge of the four foot ring, shrinking the gap to one point.

In the seventh end, Allison Pottinger shooting for the U.S., missed badly on a takeout attempt, then McCormick with her first shot cleared out most of the stones, leaving Denmark lying one. Madeleine DuPont cleared out the U.S. rock leaving Denmark lying three.

Here the U.S. needed an aggressive shot, but instead of trying a runback—driving the U.S. rock hard into one Danish rock and that one into a third Danish rock—or a carom double takeout, McCormick shot a single takeout.

The U.S. had the hammer—the final shot of the end—which is a huge advantage. But Debbie McCormack, needing to place a perfect draw into the four-foot ring to get a point, instead missed everything, giving the Danish team three points. In two ends, weak strategy and poor execution changed a two-point U.S. lead to a two-point deficit.

The rest of the game was a series of missed shots and lost opportunities for both teams. Some of the misses were phenomenally bad, and some of the strategy calls were impossible to fathom.

In the final end, with America needing two to stretch the game into an extra frame, Denmark chose to tap its own rock closer instead of freezing the closet U.S. rock. With an opportunity to tie, Debbie McCormack shot heavy and Denmark backed into a win.

Both teams will need to refocus and regroup. Denmark won, but only because the U.S. team failed in almost every clutch situation. And the U.S. team has seemed to get worse with each game. Before the Denmark game, they had good strategy and at least had their weights right. Now their weights, their lines, and their strategy are off.

Another loss sends the U.S. team home empty-handed. They have the skills they need to win—every shot they missed, they have made at one point in the Olympics. They just need to bring their best in all aspects of the game, all at the same.

They have the physical ability; they need to get their minds in the right place.