McCormick back on track with three straight wins

Former world champion Debbie McCormick is representing the United States again this year at the world women's championship. The American squad got a disappointing start at this year's tournament, coming up just short against Denmark in the opening draw. Ever since that game, however, it's been all wins for Team USA.

McCormick, born in Saskatchewan, got back on the horse in the second draw against Japan. With the Japanese team being less experienced than the Americans, it provided a good opportunity for McCormick and her team to get back any confidence that may have slipped in their opening draw.

After sitting out draw three, Team USA had another game against what many considered a "weaker" team, Italy's Diana Gaspari. However, the Italians gave the Americans a real run for their money. Team USA headed into the final end with a two point lead and were successful in holding Gaspari to a single point to win the game 6-5.

That brings us up to this morning's draw number six. This time the United States were looking to keep their winning streak alive against the very talented Scottish team.

It looked like Gail Munro and her team from Scotland were going to roll right over the Americans early on in the game. They opened with a duce, scored another in the third, and stole one more in the fourth.

Team USA stopped the bleeding before the fifth end break, picking up a huge three points in the fifth to tie the game 4-4. After the fifth end break, the two teams traded points back and forth, with the United States getting the last and deciding points in the tenth end. Team USA wins it with a score of 9-7.

Despite the loss, the Scottish team outplayed the Americans at all positions except skip. Lead Anne Laird and Third Lyndsay Wilson both curled 89% for Scotland, while Karen Addison played 90% in the Second position for the Scottish. It was the Munro-McCormick matchup the made the difference. Debbie McCormick curled 82% for Team USA while the Scottish skip Gail Munro was only at 71%. It was those missed key shots by the skip that may have led to Scotland's third loss of the tournament.

There's still plenty of time left in the tournament for Scotland to right the ship. Fortunately for the United States, they seemed to have already corrected what went wrong in their first game. Scotland will sit out draw seven this afternoon before taking on Germany in draw eight. The United States is back on the ice against Germany for draw seven.