Draw #16: Do Or Die? (Part IV) maybe just do or hope

Things aren't over yet. As I already noted, Germany scored 4 in the 7th against the Czech Republic to tie their game. Also, Switzerland scored two in the 8th and stole one in the 9th to trail Sweden "only" 6-4. Meanwhile Norway has blanked 4 ends in a row against China and still leads 2-1 with the hammer. What an unusual game!

CZ played the 8th end wide open, blanking the end, carrying the hammer into the 9th end. Expect more wide open play there. [update: was I ever wrong about that...again.]

CH is trying lots of different tactics to try to force NO to take a point, but they aren't having any luck so far.

It goes down to the last rock between SW-SU as Schwaller makes a gentle double to lie two, forcing Edin to hit for the win. SW 7 , SU 4

Conclusions:
Norway finally took one in the 9th and leads China 3-1 without the hammer going into the 10th end. Meanwhile, Scotland scored two, stole 2, and then stole 1 and is tied in the 9th with the US. And then, as Fenson's last rock rubs on a guard, Scotland steals yet another and wins 7-6.

As expected, China has troubles getting anything going in the 10th, but they do start with two corner guards, and Norway has a rock top 8'. China has the hammer, which makes the end interesting since they can tie it with a deuce. Norway kept the end fairly clean, but in the end was lying two and China had to concede without throwing their last stone. NO 3, CH 1.

The game between CZ and GE has been almost a comedy of errors with both teams missing big shots in the 9th end. The final miss by Snitil gives GE a steal of one, but CZ has the hammer coming home. In the tenth, GE has had shot rocks most of the time, but CZ still seems to be in decent position to score at least one (to tie and force an extra end) or possibly two for the win. Great freeze by Kapp forces Snitil to make a tight draw to the button for two, and he makes the shot, dropping GE to five losses.