Local curler provides some early drama at USA Nationals

EVERETT — It may not have been the outcome Cristin Clark was hoping for, but the Lynnwood resident’s first match at the USA Curling Nationals had no shortage of drama.

Clark’s round-robin opener Sunday came down to the final rock of the 10th end before Team Clark, the local connection in the women’s competition, fell to Team Bear 8-6 at Xfinity Arena.

“It was fine,” was Clark’s evaluation of the way her team started the tournament. “We’re just still getting adjusted to the ice and stuff like that.”

Team Clark trailed 7-6 going into the final end but had the hammer, meaning Team Clark owned the advantage of playing the final rock. When the time came for that final throw, Clark, her team’s skip, faced a packed house in which all 15 previously thrown rocks remained in play.

Team Clark had the closest stone to the button, meaning Clark could have played for the tie and forced an extra end — though Team Bear would have had the hammer. Instead Clark went for the win, attempting a difficult double takeout to remove two Team Bear stones. Unfortunately for Clark, she ended up pushing an opposing stone into scoring position to end the match.

“We were actually short on time on my last shot, so I think the safer thing to do would have been to throw the rock away, and that’s what I should have done and gone to the extra end,” Clark said. “We were kind of tight on time and the shot I called did have potential for high risk. I didn’t really think it through quickly because we didn’t have enough time.”

Clark has plenty of time to recover. The eight-time participant at nationals has six more round-robin matches remaining, including two Monday, and should she gain some momentum, she said she believes she can improve upon her career-best fifth-place finish at nationals.

“(Our goal) is to get as many wins as possible,” said Clark, whose team is seventh among the eight participating teams in the World Curling Tour rankings. “If we can win a few in a row, if we could win our next four or five, then we could (medal).”

Snohomish County’s other participant, Lynnwood’s Brady Clark, is attempting to defend his men’s national championship. He opened round-robin play by defeating Team Sobering 9-2 in eight ends late Saturday night, then lost a close one to Team Brown 8-5 on Sunday afternoon. That left him 1-1 heading into his Sunday night match against Team Clawson, which was not completed at press time.

Brady Clark’s team has been the clear fan favorite, with a rooting section that included supporters ringing cowbells and holding up cutouts of team members’ heads.

“We had a real strong start, had a great hometown crowd cheering us on,” was Brady Clark’s take on his team’s first two contests. “We had a tight game, (Craig) Brown just got a couple breaks, made a few more shots late in the game and we missed a few line calls. We’re throwing the rock well, we’re sweeping well, and I’ll tell you what, it’s a lot of fun out here having people cheering us on.”

Brady Clark’s match against Team Sobering was won thanks to two big ends, as Team Clark scored four in both the second and eighth.

“(Saturday) night we got a few more misses from the Sobering rink,” Brady Clark said. “It was their first time at nationals and I think they had a little bit of nerves. They played well, but we just took advantage of when they had misses.”

As for Sunday afternoon’s match against Team Brown, one of the top contenders, it was closely contested throughout. The key moment came in the eighth end when, with Team Clark leading 4-3, Brady Clark just missed a double takeout that would have forced Team Brown to settle for one and give Team Clark the hammer in the ninth end. Instead, Brown had a simple draw for two to take control. The final 8-5 margin came when Team Clark conceded the 10th end with Team Brown lying three.

“If we make that double and force them (to take one), we’re in a tie game in the ninth end and it’s a completely different game than being down,” Brady Clark said. “We just missed it, we only got one of the rocks out. If we just sweep that another two or three seconds, we make that shot and the game’s tied with the hammer in nine and you’re in a power position. Instead we were in a 50-50 position, maybe a 40-60 position, so we were in a little bit of a disadvantage by not making that double. We just missed the line call and that happens sometimes.”

Brady Clark also has six remaining round-robin games. The tiebreaker and page playoffs for both men and women begin Thursday, with the semifinals on Friday and the finals on Saturday.

For more on the Seattle sports scene, check out Nick Patterson’s Seattle Sidelines blog at www.heraldnet.com/tag/seattle-sidelines, or follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.