Skip Eve Muirhead is hoping history will continue to repeat itself for Great Britain’s women’s curling team as they strive towards gold at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, but coach David Hay has warned they will have to step up their game.
Today, in the semi-finals, GB take on an in-form Canada team who finished top of the round-robin rankings with a 100% record.
The Scots would have avoided the Canadians had they had not stumbled to defeat in their last fixture of the preliminary phase.
Having been 7-4 up going into the 10th end of their match against Denmark, Muirhead’s all-Scottish world champions eventually lost 8-7 after an extra end, and Hay has since described the performance as “careless” and “sloppy”.
He is looking for better, while Muirhead admits lessons must be taken on board from the Denmark game.
It is not lost on the 23-year-old that her predecessor as GB skip, Rhona Howie, had a mixed time of it in her round-robin campaign at Salt Lake City 2002, finishing with five wins from nine – just like Team Muirhead – and then negotiating two tie-breakers.
Howie, then called Martin, and her rink subsequently beat table-topping Canada in the semi-finals before clinching gold.
Howie is now part of the GB coaching staff, and Muirhead said: “Rhona was in the same position as us, with a semi-final to come against Canada, back in 2002.
“She came out on top there and it is great just to know Rhona is here with us, and that she has been there and done it.
“We can speak to her as much as we want and draw on her experience.
“I’ll definitely be having a chat before the game because it is great to know about how she went through all the emotions.
“We know the round-robin wasn’t easy for her either. She can really help us.”
On the Denmark game, Muirhead said: “I guess it was a tough ending, it was careless, but it was a lesson learned and I think we can take a lot from it.”
Giving his assessment of a less-than-straightforward round-robin campaign, Hay said: “Overall, I have to be happy because we have qualified for the semi.
“But performance-wise, I think we have a fair bit left in the locker. We haven’t played at our best and I’m hoping we can raise the stakes a bit for the semi- final. If we had won the game against Denmark, we would have been playing Sweden.
“Sweden and Canada are both great teams and it doesn’t make a huge amount of difference who we have to play against, and therefore it wasn’t that important.
“Having said that, the way we played for the first nine ends was first class, but then I can’t think of any time when I’ve been involved with these girls and they have lost when three up coming home.
“We don’t like losing at all to anyone, anywhere, and it was disappointing to lose that game, for sure.
“These girls are world champions and to lose a game like that is just careless. It wasn’t about technique and ability, or the occasion, it was just sloppy play.”