LANGLEY, B.C. – Amber Holland can’t go to the grocery store — or many other places — anymore without getting recognized.
“Literally, two or three people stop me as I’m grocery shopping,” she said. “It almost seems like every place I go, someone knows you.”
Such is the price of newly-found fame for the reigning Canadian women’s curling champion. But after winning her first national crown in Charlottetown and following it up with a silver medal at the world championships in Denmark, she has had a much harder time finding suitable competition this year.
By gaining an automatic return ticket to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts through the Team Canada berth, Holland’s Kronau, Sask., rink does not have to compete in provincial playdowns. As a result, she will play fewer events before heading to Red Deer, Alta., next month to defend her Canadian crown.
This week’s Continental Cup of Curling, an international competition pitting a North American squad against a world team comprising rinks from Europe and China, is helping to pick up some of the slack.
“It’s great playing conditions out there and you feel like you can make any shot,” said Holland, 37. “The pressure to go out and perform well? It’s good. We’re in a good space out there for what we need to do to prepare.”
But Holland is still trying to get some of the kinks out of her game. She dropped a 6-4 decision Friday to Binyu Wang of China, the 2010 Olympic bronze medalist. The loss came after Holland battled back to tie the score three times after trailing 2-0, 3-2 and 4-3.
“We just had so many opportunities,” said Holland. “We just missed. We played well, just missed some of those key shots. When they missed, we didn’t make (shots) and that’s the difference at this level of play.”
Wang claimed the win as she broke a 4-4 tie by scoring two with the hammer in the eighth and final end. Continental Cup women’s and men’s matches are shortened to eight ends from the standard 10.
The turning point came in the seventh end as Holland’s rink failed to lay two when third Kim Schneider was heavy with one of her shots. Holland and Wang then played a game of hit-and-stay with successful takeout attempts before the Canadian skip drew to the button and had to settle for just one point.
“I thought we played pretty good,” said Holland. “I was disappointed with two or three of my shots. They just went two or three feet heavy, like the last end — which really hurt us.”
Holland finished women’s team play with a 0-1-1 record. Wang finished women’s play with a perfect 2-0 record.
“It was a lucky one,” Wang said. “We had to pick that one out of there. For this game, we are so happy for a win.”
Wang was also grateful for the opportunity to play against the Canadian skip as she prepares to qualify her Chinese rink for the world championships again.
“I think this is the first time we beat Amber Holland,” said Wang. “She defeated us twice last year at the worlds. So this is good for us.”
In other women’s action Friday, Stefanie Lawton’s Saskatoon rink gave North America a 3-3 draw with Scotland’s Eve Muirhead, a four-time world junior gold medalist. It was Muirhead’s second draw with a Canadian rink here. She and Holland battled to a 5-5 tie Thursday.
Meanwhile, Patti Lank, a Midale, Sask., native who lives in Lewiston, N.Y., guided her U.S. national-champion rink to an 8-5 victory over Sweden’s Annette Norberg, the defending world champion and two-time Olympic gold medallist.
“I don’t remember ever losing to her,” said Lank.
The non-traditional event includes men’s, women’s, mixed doubles, singles and skins competitions. The first team to get 201 of a possible 400 points will be declared the winner.
In mixed doubles action, the world team took all three of the day’s matches. Wang and Torger Nergard of Norway teamed up to beat Lank and Craig Savill of Ottawa 5-4, Muirhead and Fredrik Lindberg downed Lawton and Ben Hebert of Calgary 8-7, and the Scottish duo of Greg Drummond and Anna Sloan defeated Holland and Joe Polo of Duluth, Minn., 7-5.
The strong mixed doubles showing helped Team World take a 57-33 lead in the overall competition before men’s team play matches held later Friday. Team World is looking to avenge last year’s onesided loss to Team North America at St. Albert, Alta.
“It’s a big day for me and a big day for the World,” said Wang after her mixed doubles win. “We have to keep going.”
Notes: Lank, a dual Canadian-American citizen, is preparing for the U.S. championships by playing and practising at her longtime club in Niagara Falls, Ont. … Wang qualified for the world championships by winning China’s National Winter Games crown last weekend. Her rink has made adjustments this year because regular third Yin Liu has taken the season off to studying in the U.S. this season. Regular second Qingshuang Yue is playing third and former alternate Jinli Liu has moved into second.
Local news from metronews.ca/vancouver
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