Canada's Lawes sinks Finland with clutch shot in mixed doubles curling

By Nick Murray, CBC Sports 

Kaitlyn Lawes put the exclamation point in an 8-2 win over Finland Friday in South Korea, rolling her last rock of the sixth end to score five in Canada's most prolific match of these Olympics.

The shot was enough for Finland's Oona Kauste and Tomi Rantamaeki to shake hands, as Lawes and fellow Winnipegger John Morris improved to 3-1 in mixed doubles round-robin play.

"John made a great call in making sure we just threw that one quiet, and I thought I overcurled. But we hit just enough of it and we swept it to make it five," Lawes told CBC's Coleen Jones.

Prior to that point, it was a game of singles with Canada stealing points in the first and fourth ends, as both teams struggled to make shots. Canada led 3-1 after four ends.

"It was a big steal to score. Kind of got away with one, I'm still figuring out my first rock a little bit," Lawes said.

Finland grabbed a single in the fifth to pull to 3-2, before Lawes' shot blew the game wide open, and ultimately sealed Canada's win.

"I think the key in that one was patience," Morris said on the tight game before Canada's five-ender.

"Those Fins, they're sneaky good. They don't make every shot but they make some interesting ones and they make the ones that count."

It was the third win in 24 hours for Canada, coming off a 6-4 victory over the United States, and beating China 10-4 earlier in the day.

Click the video player below for highlights from Canada's win over Finland:

[VIDEO src="48048"]

Canada will face Switzerland next, which also sits at 3-1 in round-robin play — both teams are in a four-way tie atop the standings — and is coming off its first loss Friday against Norway. With the game at 9 a.m. local time, Morris and Lawes said they'll be skipping the opening ceremonies, watching it at Canada House instead.

Swiss stuns U.S. with historic six-ender for the win

Over on the other sheet in Draw 4, Switzerland trailed the United States by one going into the final end.

But with the hammer and already sitting shot rock, Switzerland's Jenny Perret took out the Americans' lone stone in the house, scoring a perfect six-ender — a rarity in curling.

According to the World Curling Federation, no curling team has ever managed a perfect end at the Olympics.

Mixed curling is making its debut at the Olympics, and the basics are relatively simple.

• Each team consists of only two players — one man, one woman instead of the usual teams of four players of the same gender.
• Each team throws five stones per end, with the player delivering the team's first stone of the end also delivering the team's final stone of the end. One stone per team is pre-positioned before the start of play in each end.
• The game lasts eight ends.
• The scoring is the same as in regular curling.