Submitted by Jim Force to Wausau Pilot & Review
The U.S. Junior Men’s curling team is moving on to the playoffs in Finland.
Skipped by Wausau West grad Wes Wendling, the Americans defeated Denmark this morning 6-3 to finish with five wins and one loss in round-robin play. The win tied them with New Zealand for first in their group and qualified them for the eight-team playoff that begins tomorrow.
Sweden, Canada, Ukraine, New Zealand, Japan and Denmark are among the other teams which made it to the finals. The top four teams from the playoffs will be promoted to the Men’s Junior World Championships, also in Finland, Feb. 17-24.
The Denmark match was close throughout, with the USA taking a 3-1 lead after three ends. They led 4-3 after six ends, and blanked the seventh (no scores) to keep the hammer, or last shot, in the final end. That paid off as the Danes missed their final shot to leave the US with two.
On the team with Wendling are Jackson Armstrong of Appleton, Jackson Bestland and Caden Hebert from Eau Claire, and Kevin Tuma, St. Paul, MN.
Line-by-line scores and standings can be viewed on www.livescores.worldcurling.org.
The competition is being held at the Kisakallio Sports Institute in Lohja, Finland, outside Helsinki. Finland is eight hours ahead of U.S. central time.
