Time – often an overlooked thing to a curling bystander. But, time was the unofficial fifth man for Seattle’s Luc Violette rink as Riley Fenson’s team couldn’t get off the final shot of the game to try to score a point to send the game to an extra end this afternoon as the 2016 U.S. Youth Olympic Team Trials for Curling came to a close.
Violette (Lake Stevens, Wash.) and teammates Cora Farrell (Fairbanks, Alaska), Benjamin Richardson (Issaquah, Wash.), and Cait Flannery (Mankato, Minn.) defeated Fenson’s Minnesota team today in the second championship final at the Four Seasons Curling Club in Blaine, Minn., and will now represent the United States at February’s Youth Olympic Winter Games in Norway.
Fenson (Bemidji, Minn.) and his team of Christine McMakin (St. Paul, Minn.), Graem Fenson (Bemidji, Minn.), and Allison Howell (Bentleyville, Ohio) had just six seconds on their time clock and the skip sprinted up the sheet and got in the hack but couldn’t deliver it before the clock displayed zero. The result is an automatic forfeit.
The game was a defensive battle between the two teams who had played earlier this morning and returned to the ice an hour later to decide the championship after Fenson’s team won the earlier match. Fenson’s team intended to blank the first end but ended up taking a point. After that they forced Violette into a tough draw that was a little heavy and the Fenson rink stole a point to go up 2-0. Violette’s squad was forced to take a point in the third end and duplicated what Fenson’s team did and stole the fourth end to put the game in a tie situation at the break.
In the fifth end, the Fenson rink was forced into taking a point but then got stones positioned well around the four-foot in the sixth end to hold their Washington opponent to a single point. The game turned in favor of Washington in the seventh end, however, as they capitalized on half shots to steal a point when Fenson’s final stone was wide.
Violette’s team, which went through the round robin undefeated, played solid in the eighth end and had the Fenson rink chasing. It wasn’t until McMakin’s second vice skip stone that they had a workable stone in the four-foot. Violette answered with two solid rocks to force Fenson into making a draw to the button to try to score a point to put the game into an extra end. With the clock ticking down and the distance down the sheet too far, Fenson couldn’t get there in time.
The Violette rink, now Team USA, will compete in traditional mixed games as well as mixed doubles at the 2016 Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway, Feb. 12-21.
The 2016 U.S. Youth Olympic Curling Team is subject to approval by the United States Olympic Committee
Stolen from the USCA News Release
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Teams skipped by Luc Violette (Lake Stevens, Wash.) and Riley Fenson (Bemidji, Minn.) have moved on to Sunday’s championship round of the 2016 U.S. Youth Olympic Team Trials for Curling at the Four Seasons Curling Club in Blaine, Minn.
After the conclusion of today’s round robin, the top two teams – Violette (5-0) and Fenson (4-1) advance to the 9 a.m. championship final. However, there is a two-loss provision in place meaning that any team that qualifies to this secondary round with an undefeated record has to be beaten twice in order to be officially eliminated. So, if needed, a second final could be played at noon tomorrow. Violette’s team of Cora Farrell (Fairbanks, Alaska), Benjamin Richardson (Issaquah, Wash.), and Cait Flannery (Mankato, Minn.) kept its perfect record intact with an 8-4 win today over Chase Sinnett’s team from Boston (2-3).
Stolen from the USCA News Release
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2014 U.S. junior champion Luc Violette has his Seattle-based team in a tie for first place after two sessions of the 2016 U.S. Youth Olympic Team Trials for Curling at the Four Seasons Curling Club in Blaine, Minn.
Violette’s team is on top of the leaderboard with Chase Sinnett’s rink from Massachusetts after this morning’s round robin results from the U.S. Olympic Training Site for Curling.
Violette (Issaquah, Wash.) had to lead his team to a come-from-behind win yesterday but had more control over today’s match against Riley Fenson (Bemidji, Minn.) with the Washington team prevailing, 6-1. Violette and teammates Cait Flannery (Mankato, Minn.), Benjamin Richardson (Issaquah, Wash.), and Cora Farrell (Fairbanks, Alaska) kept the Fenson rink (1-1) off the scoreboard through five ends as they stole points to build a 4-0 lead. Violette’s team would seal the win by scoring a second deuce in the seventh end.
Stolen from the USCA News Release