Live Blog: Day seven at the ECC

Have a good night! We are back tomorrow with more play-off action from the Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships 2022.

The men’s round-robin programme came to a close tonight. Read our summary about it here.

“We got a mistake from them in the sixth to get the jump on them and go two up. Then I had a bad one in the seventh. Italy left me a shot to let me score four in the eighth, we’re just fortunate it came off the way it did.”

Joel Retornaz needed to draw for one against four Scottish counters. He perfectly executed the task for the single, then Italy conceded the game.

An exceptional triple take-out by Mouat resulted in a four-point score for Scotland.

Italy 3, Scotland 7 after eight.

After a mistake by Bruce Mouat with his last stone, Joel Retornaz has the opportunity to draw for two. He just did that and tied the game at 3-3.

Joel Retornaz was light with his draw and gave up a single point to Scotland in the sixth.

Italy 1, Scotland 3, playing the seventh.

We’ve got ourselves a close one! Italy blank the fifth end despite there being multiple stones in play all end.

Scotland’s Bruce Mouat played a long runback, hoping to blank the end but stuck around in the rings for a score of one. 2-1 Scotland after four ends.

Scotland split the house on their last leaving a nose hit for one point for the Italians to tie 1-1 after three.

Grant Hardie 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 makes a double takeout and sits perfectly behind a guard! #ECC2022 #curling
Watch live on the Curling Channel at https://t.co/fy3vfdBx89 pic.twitter.com/Jlz146L4Lz

— World Curling (@worldcurling) November 24, 2022

It looked a bit risky, but Italy managed to pick out a hurried stone behind a corner guard to blank the second end.

Italy forced Scotland to take a single point in the first end.

Last year both Italy and Scotland qualified for the semi-finals. In Lillehammer, Italy lost to Sweden and then went on to win bronze. Scotland, on the other hand, won their semi-final against Norway, and later on took gold.

Up next: men’s first semi-final between Italy and Scotland at 20.00.

Watch it on the Curling Channel.

Read here what happened in the women’s semi-finals.

“I’m speechless, I don’t know what to say… Why didn’t we win years ago? It feels good. We were shaky at the beginning, everybody could feel the tension, when it’s so quiet and no-one dares to speak. We got settled, we had some amazing shots and just played well.

It’s going to be tough [against Switzerland]. I never thought I would beat Switzerland, but it has happened once, so why not again?”

Rebecca Morrison made a hit for one point in the eighth for 11-3. At this point, the Scottish conceded the game.

A well-played end resulted in two more points for Denmark to lead by 11-2 after seven.

Equally importantly, Denmark have lost of fun out there.

Rebecca Morrison made the hit for one in the seventh.

Denmark 9, Scotland 2.

Morrison’s last draw attempt wrecked on a guard and Scotland gave up a steal of two in the fifth end.

Denmark 9, Scotland 1 at the break.

Scottish skip Rebecca Morrison’s take-out attempt didn’t go according to plans and Scotland gave up a steal of two to Denmark.

Denmark 6, Scotland 1 after four.

Denmark capitalised on their hammer in the third end and put three on the board.

Now they are leading the game, at 4-1, after three ends.

Now it was Denmark’s turn to force Scotland to take their single. 1-1 after two ends.

Rebecca Morrison 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 with some help from her sweepers makes a pressure nose hit against four to score a single point! 💪#ECC2022 #curling
Watch live on the Curling Channel at https://t.co/fy3vfdT7ZH pic.twitter.com/QtBZnDZg0R

— World Curling (@worldcurling) November 24, 2022

Scotland forced Denmark to draw for a single in the first end. Madeleine Dupont just did that for a 1-0 lead.

Click here to read our update from the B-Division after the women’s round robin.

“Winning a semi always makes you feel great. We were a bit nervous at the beginning, I’m so glad to see we were able to recover after the first end, we’re really happy about that. I know how it is to be a world champion, but not a European champion, so it would be great to have both.”

Switzerland will play for gold and the title, while Italy will play for bronze.

Switzerland ran Italy out of stones and secured a spot in the final.

After an exceptional double take-out with her first stone, Alina Paetz made a hit-and-stay with her second for three points for Switzerland.

Switzerland are now leading by four points, at 9-5, going into the tenth.

Stefania Constantini’s difficult raise attempt wasn’t perfect, and Italy needed to settle for a single.

Italy 5, Switzerland 6 after eight.

Alina Paetz had a hit-and-stay opportunity to score three, but her shooter rolled out of the rings and Switzerland needed to settle for two points.

Italy 4, Switzerland 6, after seven ends.

One on the board for Italy as they tie the game at 4-4 after six.

Switzerland scored two to take the lead for the first time, at 4-3, at the break.

Switzerland blanked the fourth end, and carried the hammer over to the fifth end.

Switzerland forced Italy to draw for a single in the third. Stefania Constantini executed the task perfectly and Italy put one on the board.

Switzerland scored two in the second to tie the game. 2-2 after two.

It is a tied game after two ends, as Alina Paetz 🇨🇭 makes the nose hit for two after a good end!#ECC2022 #curling
Watch live on the Curling Channel at https://t.co/fy3vfdT7ZH pic.twitter.com/3XbFO8CCE8

— World Curling (@worldcurling) November 24, 2022

A well-played first end resulted in two points on the board for the Italians who are now leading by 2-0.

The last game between these two teams started 17 hours ago, as they played their last round-robin game against each other.

Italy won that one by 9-3 in eight ends.

Next up: the first women’s semi-final in 30 minutes

Spain scored two in the tenth to tie the game at 9-9.

Bonus curling for the fans!

Scotland scored two in the tenth to beat Italy by 7-5.

This is the Italians’ only loss in the round robin as both team finish on an eight-one win-loss record.

A precise tap-back by Oskar Eriksson results in three points for Sweden in the ninth.

Sweden 9, Spain 7 going into the tenth.

Czech Republic scored three in the seventh and stole two in the eighth to lead by six points over Denmark. At this point, the Danish conceded the game.

Czech Republic 10, Denmark 4.

Czech Republic picked up three wins at the championship and qualified for the worlds. Denmark remained winless and got relegated to next season’s B-Division.

Norway put two on the board in the ninth to lead by four points over Türkiye. At this point, the Turkish conceded the game.

Both Norway and Türkiye finished their round-robin campaign with four wins and five losses.

Germany scored two in the eighth to reduce their deficit to three points against Switzerland in the eighth, and then conceded the game.

Switzerland 8, Germany 5 is the final result.

A well-played eighth end resulted in three points for Türkiye.

Norway 8, Türkiye 6 after eight.

Speaking of Türkiye! Have you read our story on them? If not, click here.

Bruce Mouat’s promotion take-out attempt didn’t go according to plans and Scotland gave up a single steal to Italy.

Italy 4, Scotland 3 after seven.

Here‘s a click update for you from the B-Division.

Norway stole one point in the seventh end to extend their lead to five points over Türkiye.

Norway 8, Türkiye 3, going into the eighth.

Switzerland put another three on the board in the sixth to lead the game by five points against Germany.

Switzerland 5-3 Germany

Czech Republic 5-3 Denmark

Italy 1-3 Scotland

Norway 5-3 Türkiye

Sweden 4-6 Spain

An exceptional double take-out by Spanish skip Sergio Vez results in a huge score of four.

Spain 6, Sweden 4 at the break.

Türkiye skip Ugurcan Karagoz wasn’t successful with his tap-back attempt with his last stone of the fourth end, and gave up a single steal to Norway.

Norway 5, Türkiye 2 after four.

Switzerland take a 5-2 lead against Germany after putting three on the board in the third.

Italy and Scotland have yet to put a score on the board, as we have two blank ends so far between the two semi-finalists.

Sweden scored two points in the first end, and Spain responded with their own two in the second.

Olympic champions Sweden have already qualified for the play-offs, while Spain already know that they got relegated to next season’s European B-Division.

The four semi-finalists have been determined already. Italy, Scotland, Sweden and Switzerland will play for medals in the men’s field.

However, the semi-final pairings depend on the final round-robin rankings, and we will only that at the end of this session.

This is your last chance to watch all men’s teams play at the championship.

Tune into the Curling Channel to watch the last round-robin games at 8.00 am (CET):

Switzerland v Germany

Czech Republic v Denmark

Italy v Scotland

Norway v Türkiye

Sweden v Spain

Welcome to Day 7 at the Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships 2022!

We have a long and exciting day ahead:

We will start with the men’s last round-robin session and then turn to the play-offs in the A-Division.

The B-Division will have round-robin games throughout the day.