Andrea Schopp is back on top of the curling world for the first time since 1988 after leading Germany to the 2010 Ford World Women’s Curling Championship in Swift Current.
Schopp made a takeout in the extra end to win an edge-of-your-seat championship game by an 8-6 count over Scotland. In winning the title Schoepp becomes the oldest skip to claim a world women’s curling championship.
“Perfect!” was her simple response when asked what it felt to be the top team in the world.
Schopp was backed by Canadian born third Melanie Robillard, long-time curling teammate Monika Wagner, and 17-year-old Stella Heiss curled lead in the championship final after alternating with Corinna Scholz during the week. Schopp pointed out that the addition of Robillard to the team since 2008, and moving her up from second to third this year, provided the team with the right ingredients to win.
“You never know what is the right team. You just have to play what you have. But I think this team really worked out well. We’ve had our trials during the last one, two years, but with Corinna (Scholz) in it, and with Monica (Wagner) playing on second, she’s perfect. I’ve never had a better second than she’s doing now. I think she really made the shots for winning the game in the extra end.”
Schopp, who has now curled in a record 17 world women's championships as skip, was world champion in 1988 and last won a medal at the world level in 1989 when she earned a bronze in Milwaukee. She had not advanced into the playoff round in her last 11 trips to worlds.
“Maybe I can take the next 20 years and make it again. I think that would be a record,” she joked with reporters after the championship win. “I hope we can make it again before, but the teams are really so close together. I think each of those 10 or 11 teams which are really high ranked is able to make it every year, so I think the line-up will be a different every year for the next upcoming years.”
Schopp had nothing but praise for Scotland skip Eve Muirhead.
“She will be the future I think. She’s a really great player,” she said. “She is the future, like the Swedish team will be.”
The 11 end final was a classic strategic contest, with every point in the game resulting in a tie score or a lead change.
After Germany took one with hammer in the first end, Muirhead lined up a double takeout to spill two German stones to count a pair and go ahead 2-1. Both teams were curling in the 90 per cent range in the first two ends. After trading takeouts in the third, Germany was left with an open hit for two and regain a 3-2 lead. Muirhead made a cold draw to the four foot to tie the game at 3-3 after four ends, and Germany went up 4-3 at the fifth end break with a single in five. Muirhead made a nice angle takeout to score a pair in the sixth to go up 5-4, but Germany tied the game in the seventh and recorded the game's only steal in the eighth to open a 6-5 lead. Muirhead blanked the ninth end to have hammer in the tenth end trailing by a single point. On her first stone in 10, Muirhead's rock picked up something just after she released it and her misfired rock left Germany lying three, with Schoepp throwing a guard to make Muirhead’s final shot all that more tougher, Muirhead threw a perfect, under-pressure double raise takeout to score her one and force the improbable extra end. In the final end Scotland was able to guard a counting stone early in the 11th, but a Muirhead guard over curled just enough to give Schopp her shot for the championship.
“I think as long we keep it up, tight, I thought that we really had a good chance at the end. Because as you saw in the eighth end they really became nervous I think. Getting close it makes you feeling different, so it’s a different feeling than you have in the beginning of the game. I think they were really sure to make it and she forced it because she played offensive like.”
Scotland’s skip Eve Muirhead has been a quick study at the world women’s curling level. After posting a 5-6 mark at her debut world’s as an 18-year-old last year, she rubbed shoulders with curling’s elite by enjoying an 8-3 round robin record, coming within a win of taking top spot in the round robin and reaching the gold medal game in her second year.
“I can take a lot from it. The experience thing will be the main thing. You can’t forget that we are going away with that silver medal, and we came out here to get a medal, and yeah it wasn’t the colour we looked for, but it’s still a medal," she said moments after the closing ceremonies. “I can’t be too hard on myself I don’t think. I’m still only 19 and hopefully I’ve got a long way to go, and there’s so much in that that I can take, especially the experience I think, being out here at World’s in Canada. The atmosphere and everything is phenomenal, and if you compare this to a lot of other countries it’s totally different. Muirhead admitted that the experience of the German team was a factor in the final outcome.
“They played a fantastic game out there,” Muirhead said. “We gave them a good run out there…we still got a silver medal, but we went out there to win that game and it didn’t happen. And you’re inches away from it.”
The young skip thought the game was over when her first rock in the tenth picked something and derailed her strategy for a win. “That pick up was crucial. If I nailed that shot we’re looking good for the game, very good for the game," she said. “These things happen, there’s nothing you can do about that. I think it was our only pick of the week…unfortunately it comes down to the final game and my first stone in 10.”
Sunday's championship attracted a sold out crowd of 2,654, and the entire week boasted an attendance total of 52,305, an average of 2,274 per draw.
