Out of the doghouse...

So the US' mens team (curling, in case you haven't noticed which sport I'm totally sucked into by this point in time) has a nice win over the Swiss yesterday, giving them back-to-back wins for the first time this tournament, and putting them at 4-2, in a 3-way tie for second place.

Then today they get Germany, a 1-4 team just going thru the motions at this point in time, no real chance at anything. After Germany, the US has Great Britain (5-1, first place) tomorrow & Canada (4-2, t-2nd place) on Monday. That will then conclude their 9-game round robin. AFter that, the top 4 teams will play in a playoff to determine the gold medalist.

So obviously the Germany game is big. Going into Great Britain/Canada at 5-2 would be nice, because a split in those two tough games gets you to 6-3, which will be good enough for Top 4.

Of course, though, you can't overlook Germany.

USA didn't. They came out aggressive, scoring 2 in the first end. Then stealing a point in the 2nd end to make it 3-0. Fast forward to the 5th end, it's 3-1 America. Germany has one stone left, then America gets their last stone. The American's are currently lying 4. A 2, 3, or 4 point end is in their reach. The game could easily become 6-1, and out of reach for the Germans. Unforunately, the German skip hits a beautiful shot, knocking out all 4 American stones. Pete Fenson, America's skip, with the last shot, seemingly flustered, blows it, and the Germans end up coming away with the point. Now, isntead of 6-1, it's 3-2, and the Germans are right back in the game.

You can tell in the 6th end that it got in the Americans heads. Their first two shooters, John Schuster & Joe Polo, don't perform up to standards, and its looking like the Germans may steal a point or two in this end. Then Shawn Rojeski comes up. I've made it perfectly clear that he's the weakpoint of this team, in my opinion. He shoots too hard, has no accuracy, and never hits the big shot. Well, today he redeemed himself. He throws a beautiful shot which allows the Americans to get 2 in the 6th, making it 5-2.

From there, the Americans were in control, and eventually went on to win 8-4.

Their confidence is restored, and my confidence in Rojeski just went up a notch or two. Tomorrow, Great Britain, at 4 o'clock. A win puts them in a tie for first place with one game left in the round robin. A loss may shake their confidence a little, but shouldn't do too much harm in the standings.

The men continue to roll, and a medal definitely isn't out of the question.