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Canadians win bronze with victory over United States
By Tim Korte
AP sports writer
OGDEN, Utah — The U.S. women's curling team will have to go home satisfied with having played for the Olympic bronze medal.
The Americans lost 9-5 Thursday to Canada, the 1998 gold medalists who consider finishing third a disappointment. They went 8-1 in pool play, then were upset by Britain in the semifinals.
Britain plays Switzerland later Thursday for the gold medal.
The American program got a huge boost by getting this far, especially after starting the round-robin tournament 2-3. The U.S. team won four straight before losing to the Swiss in the semifinals.
The United States won a bronze in men's curling at the 1992 Albertville Olympics, but back then it was a demonstration sport.
Led by captain Kari Erickson, the U.S. team was competitive, tying the match at 2 through three ends. They were within 7-5 in the eighth, but Canada captain Kelley Law never lost their grip on the match.
For example, in the seventh end, Erickson bumped a U.S. stone into the middle of the house, but Law knocked it out with her next shot.
On her next shot, Erickson took out the Canadian stone, but Law bumped Erickson's stone right after that. So it went — knock for knock, with the Canadians methodically pulling ahead.
Erickson had most of the 1,500 fans inside the chilly arena chanting "U-S-A, U-S-A" after putting two stones in the house to make it 7-5 in the eighth.
But the Canadians had a strategical advantage because they shot last in the last two ends.
After the Canadians scored one point in the ninth end to lead 8-5, the outcome was essentially decided.
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February 21, 2002
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