Team USA (l-r) Patrick McDonald, David Palmer, Jimmy Joseph, Penny Greely, and Meghan Lino.
USA qualifi ed for 2014 Paralympic Winter Games By Terry L. Kolesar, Editor
last-rock loss to China in the bronze-medal game at the Ice Cube Curling Center in Sochi, Russia. “We came and we played, we trained really
T
hard. Aſt er the fourth end break they turned up the heat. T ey made it really diffi cult. T e best team won,” said Patrick McDonald, Team USA’s skip. T e U.S. fell to China’s Haitao Wang, 6-5, to fi nish with an 8-4 overall record. It was the second straight year that China won the bronze medal at this event. McDonald (Madison, Wis.) and teammates
David Palmer (Mashpee, Mass.), Jimmy Joseph (New Hartford, N.Y.), Penny Greely (Green Bay, Wis.), and Meghan Lino (East Falmouth, Mass.) have successfully qualifi ed the U.S. for the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. “We came in to get a medal, did our best. It’s
heartbreaking to lose,” Joseph said. “Obviously, it’s not fun coming in fourth for the past several years. But it’s a bigger prize next year at the Para- lympics and that only makes us hungrier to get a medal. T e outcome wasn’t what we wanted, but I’m very proud of this team.” T e Americans started the game with a deuce
and held China to a single in the second end. Af- ter exchanging singles over the next two ends, the U.S. held a modest 3-2 lead at the halfway point. T e U.S. team was held to one point in the fi ſt h and allowed China to take control of the
Gold medal: *Sweden 010 101 00 – 3 Canada 101 010 01 – 4 *last rock in fi rst end
USA skip Patrick McDonald (above).
game's momentum as they scored a deuce in the sixth end to tie the game. Aſt er the Americans were held again to a sin-
gle in the seventh end, China got the win set up in the eighth. T e Chinese kept the end clean and Wang had a clear takeout on a U.S. shot stone to score two and win the game.
“I’m very proud of our team and very proud
of how we played. We’ve come a long way in two years. Next year we’re only going to be stron- ger. We are going for gold in the Paralympics,” Greely said. T e upcoming Paralympic Winter Games will take place March 7-16, 2014. ■