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Czech Republic - Norway, Wednesday morning. Women.

The Norwegians are in their normal lineup, skip Davanger. We're down to two in the first end after a mistake by the Norwegians. Davanger plays his first and there are two Czech stones in the circles. It's a roll out and Iveta plays split the house, after another Norwegian skip stone the situation is the same and we match at two. It's going well. We're up two nil.

rn

2nd end: we start the draw - Klara is on one, and her stone ends up on four just off the center line. The Norwegians are trying to play defense, and so far they're playing take outs. After our roll, there's a corner guard and the Norks go behind him. After a failed Trulsen attempt we have a biter on the other side of the circles than the corner guards and play Zuzka second to the circle. mink plays a roll but doesn't finish and Zuzka can play a hit roll back to her original spot. But it's a roll out and Trulsen can go behind the corner guards. He's in and we play 9,5 and stay. After the Davanger stone, the situation is pretty much the same, but we have two beaters. Iveta goes out and Davanger plays a draw against two biters. No problems and it's 2-1, with an advantage for us.rn

3. end: Our attempt to go on the offensive doesn't work, and neither does our attempt to double. Norka has a stone on six and is in. A perfect guard played by Hilding clears Eva and everything stays the same. Six stones to go and the rings are empty, no sign of guards. Trulsen plays a draw and is at the tee line. Zuzka plays a stay and succeeds. Nothing special until the end of the endgame. Blank. Let's move on. 2-1.rn

4th end: after the first two failed stones, there's a pair of corner guards on the same side at about three. Our stone rolls behind them and after a clear attempt by the Norwegians, one corner and ours in the circles is left all open. We play a corner guard to cover the situation. mink fails to clear and we can go again. We have two in the circle both covered and the minks play a run back. They miss everything in their way and we can play a third into the circle and we play split the house. It took a little more throwing, but we're still at six about a yard and a quarter from the center line, and that's good. mink again run back, this time they hit theirs, but none of ours. We've got three, and Zuzka plays the fourth into the circle, just don't mess it up. We're tapped. We've got four, but the Norks get a double and Davanger goes for it. Iveta plays stay first to keep the four stones. It's going well and the Norwegians have the choice of a heavy double or a heavy draw or a freeze back. The Norwegian plays a double, but we're up to three and we've got full circles. Iveta makes it and we have a three. 5 : 1.

rn

5th end: Not much of a play. tight center court and corner guard in the Czech colors indicate failed attempts. The Norwegians also fail to come around and the guard multiplies. Eva doesn't make the circle either. Thankfully Davanger chooses to continue defensively, and we have a rock in the circles after a yellow take out. Two corner guards in play and we play come around our stone in the front circles. The Norse will play a roll, we have two. The roll fails, the Norwegian stone is stay and stays in front of the circle, we play around ours somewhere on the tee but tap ours and the Norks can play a double. A perfect stone puts us in trouble. we have to play a double up the middle. Iveta, outturn. We only take the front, we miss the one in the circle by a hair and the minks can think about a double. Davanger plays a draw and stays loose on the tee line. We play hit and roll. We're very fast, so after the hit we drive our stone out and the Norwegian calls for two. She's got it. 5-3.

rn

The play of the sixth end is normal. Norway's center guard and our hitter. The Norwegians try to roll, but they overthrow and we see it all. Eva plays the roll behind center guard. We have another biter, this time in the back circles. The Norks roll out and we play come around. Better to clear center guard. Finally, we're long and the Norks can get behind their center guard. No other stone in play. Norks are at the ten and we play hit stay, maybe a little roll to the side would have been better, but overall we got a little unnecessarily tangled. The roll goes well and the Norks have to play hit. We manage to sweep the Norwegian stone out after the hit and play into the empty come around circles (better to play it from the other side for the jam). It's eight and a bit we're watching. The Norwegians roll out after the hit and we can play through. Another blank. The score is 5 to 3.rn

7th end. The Norse have a center guard and a rock behind him at the five. We're on the side at the four and the Norse are making plays. They mess up, and we're left with a center guard and with him our stone, which is free in the front circles. then we chase each other with rolls around the circle and no one is able to play a good hit and roll behind the guard. We are now sensibly playing hit stay and doing it successfully, on the other hand the Norwegian needs to roll and almost succeeds. We are playing roll and almost succeeding too. Before Norka's last stone, the center guard is still in the game and the stone on the tee line on the side. Roll is not going well for Davanger. It's a stay and we play a blank. We only touch the yellow stone and unfortunately the Norwegians have one. The score is 5 to 4.

rn

8th end: The play is decent from both sides. After seven stones there is a centre guard and behind him at the centre line a pair of stones behind him, closer to the centre is ours. After a time out, we play tap back with the weight of the back line. It worked out almost 100%. We have a better one, another one in front of it on four. mink has the second stone in the order free on the tee line. Time out, mink. Docola the good advice of the Norwegian coach has not been successfully implemented and Trulsen has crashed the center guard. We play a hit roll, but go with our stone out and Davanger tries the angle freeze again. It's short, on four. We have two and somewhat surprisingly we play an inside out third stone. That leaves two options for the Norks, but both good. It's a close call for the Norks and we're down to three. Iveta is great!! We have three and the score is 8-4.

rn

9th end: Tragic opening, but commendable on both sides except for one stone. We've got a center guard, a Norwegian corner next to him, ours at the five and ours at the nine behind the center. Behind the corner guard, the Norwegian is on ten. Weird, right? Norka's draw rolls over and there's another guard. We're playing Eva again come around. A bad guess causes the guard to clang and the guards multiply and multiply. A refresher from the guard boredom is the Norse run back, but he overshoots, so it just loosens up the middle a bit. We have about two better ones and Trulsen plays a double with a roll. She's doing pretty well, but we still have two better. Zuzka with her second come around, the direction is ok, just the weight now. Well done, it's six and the Norwegians have to follow us. The Norwegians are the best, but they're all visible. Iveta is playing take out and a roll to the side would be nice. There are some holes, but nothing bad for us. Davanger has to play a heavy angle freeze but it's short and we play guard and close it out. Davanger is short, we record a three and another nice win. Well done, folks!!!