A game of everything.

It had become so clear in the women's playoffs before the last round of the championship that there were a number of options for who would be relegated to the B's. There was also uncertainty about the additional qualification places for the World Cup, which affected the countries in eighth and ninth place. We figured in virtually all scenarios (except the play-offs), with the possibility that if everything conspired against us, we could even be relegated. But we could have just as easily finished as the best non-professional team at the European Championship, i.e. sixth. In the morning, the men played Round Robin (one on one). After close win/loss ratios of several countries, the Norwegians did not slip into the playoffs, paying the price for ignoring the rule about the mandatory retention of a player's broom during substitutions. There was a lot of talk about it here and it became a big deal. So surprisingly the Danes go into the semis along with the Swiss, the Scots and the sovereign Swedes. Meanwhile, the Czech men's national team has qualified straight from top spot in the group to the semi-finals of the B-team, where they will play either the Spanish or the Turks tomorrow night.

We started our duel with the Danes with an interesting uniqueness in the form of an identical total of LSDs played. Both teams had 40.0 cm. We gained the advantage by knowing the rule that in this case the one who scored the best ever attempt out of the four played has the advantage. And that was us. We kicked it up a notch and confidently registered three points on the first end. But the match gradually evened out and after nine ends we were one up with the advantage. Mistakes, clearly stemming from mutual nervousness, left Anna less than four feet for the final draw. A stone with a stopwatch time of 14.15 licked the best Danish stone in the rings, and the final spin of ours was enough to better our place in the rings by inches. A geyser of joy and a sense of relief could follow as we were the last lane to finish. The win secured us everything we needed, i.e. Group A for next year and direct qualification for the World Championships in March where Olympic points will be up for grabs. In addition, the results of the other matches really moved us up to sixth place in Europe. I'll add the ME balance tomorrow or Saturday, but I can't do it now because it's all too fresh. Thanks to everyone for the support.