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Game Day 2 Women (B) and 1 Men (A).

Eight o'clock in the morning. No, actually, a lot less. About five hours, forty minutes. The Czech women's curling team is up and ready for their second performance. Their opponents are the English. We know them from the last CCT in Wetzikon, where we beat them. Yesterday, the English girls almost lost on time to the Italians and only scored the win because the Italians got to zero before their opponent after a lazy play of stones in the last end. Both teams had about 40 seconds (thinking time) for the whole last end yesterday, which allows to finish, but with zero thinking. Probably for this reason, Coach Sharp's charges set a frantic pace today, which took a bit of a toll on us as well. We had a 3-2 lead at the half and two-thirds of the allotted time still available. The sixth end was a three for the opponent, the seventh a three for us. By the last we were up by one and without an advantage. No big deal. Our penultimate stone is hit with a roll into a good position. Fowler plays a stay hit and gets two. We need a double to keep us from getting behind two. Double's going great. Fowler opts for hit and stay against two rocks, but rolls out after the hit and we get the win. It took a lot of work, but it's there. First win after a tough fight. We're happy for him.

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The Czech men had a strong opponent to start, Team Sweden (Edin). The 5 : 7 loss came after a balanced start. A double from the Swedes in the sixth end and a 6 : 3 lead was the decisive moment. After that, the Northerners were in full control of the match and played what they needed to play.

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The girls still have the Austrians this afternoon from 4pm and the French tomorrow from 8am. No time to rest. Let's move on!!!

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photo from the Czech Republic - England, women match