Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Reeeeead
There's no question that "ice reading" is a skill in itself, but lets be clear here, any elite curler will tell you that bad, unpredictable ice, is an equalizer. It brings a great deal of randomness, luck, and unpredictability in a match.
They are all timing rocks and cleaning paths, but if a spot changes dramatically from shot to shot, or gets soft at an unpredictable time, there isn't really a lot you can do to predict that.
The fact that three of there losses have been on the same sheet, in the same way illustrates that point. If you look at the percentages of shots made yesterday, China wasn't much better. They struggled with similar misses, they just the shots they did make were at the right time.
Anyways, not aiming to be an apologist here, as much as providing a narrative as to what is going on. This isn't a team that is choking or not rising to the occasion. Rachel is by far the most skilled female curler in the world who is struggling with a particular sheet of curling ice. I have some sympathy for that. I do think they haven't handled the situation particularly well mentally and seem more aiming to make excuses than try to fight and adapt as much as possible. Seems like they feel a lot of weight on their shoulders and hard when you dont feel like you are meeting expectations. The rock kicked off against Denmark showed how much pressure they are facing as that was a very uncharacteristic decision, but was glad to see she righted the ship when they faced China and faced a similar circumstance.
You should expect those ice conditions at the club level, but at this point, these types of factors are meant to be removed and make the game more about skill level than trying to predict the unpredictable. Its frustrating for me to here the comments of people (not here, on twitter and people you run in) who really have no clue and just see the results "wow what a terrible shot, how did she miss so bad" or "they are choking so hard". These girls dont miss shots as often or by as much as they are now, and that really is a reflection on ice conditions. Its really annoying on this stage when they are trying to get growth in the sport to put as many obstacles in front of them in performing their best.
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Some of these misses are not reading the ice though. The shot that cost them the Danish game was very close to an open hit, where Homan just missed the broom. The sweepers were on it the second she let it go. Miskew's roll out on an open hit against China was the same. Outside the broom the second she let it go.
They are not confident in their decision making which undoubtedly is affected by the ice. But some teams are playing very, very well on the same ice.
No one is calling them chokers. Or at least not here, as you say. But they are not playing well, I really don't see any way around that.