Having gained fortuitous entry into this season’s World Junior Championships, Scotland’s women served notice that they aim to capitalise fully on their luck when they recovered from a poor start to dominate their opening match against Canada.
Fay Henderson, Katie McMillan, Lisa Davie and Holly Wilkie-Milne had only gained entry to the event on a late invitation after Russia were barred from competing and two other countries were unable to send teams to replace them. 
Meanwhile Isabelle Ladouceur’s Canadians took to the ice defending the title won by their compatriots when the event was last held two years ago and they made what looked a suitably commanding start as they moved into 5-0 lead.
Yet Team Henderson’s response was so effective that they had overhauled their opponents by the midway break, where they led 6-5 after scoring three at the third end, then stealing a two at the next and one more at the fifth.
They were never headed again on their way to a 9-7 victory that sets them up perfectly for the week ahead.
“It was great to get the first game under our belts and get a win,” said skip Henderson.
“Team Canada’s always a big game and it’s great to get the better of them.”
She accepted responsibility for her team’s shaky start, but expressed satisfaction with the way they stuck to their task in turning things around.
“We had a bit of a rough start. I struggled with the ice slightly and had a few difficult shots which just didn’t go my way,” Henderson admitted.
“We just knew it was a long game and we had another eight ends left, so if we stuck together and went for it an end would eventually go our way.
“The score of three at the third end was massive to bring it back to 5-3 and the steal of two was even better. 
“That brought us right back which gave us a lot of confidence and we were really in control at those ends.
“From then on we just kept that momentum going, worked hard, played the scoreboard, made some good decisions.
“With our teamwork we know the processes, we’re really comfortable with one another and know how to pick each other up, which really helps.”
They now head into day two meetings with the USA and Switzerland buzzing with energy.
“We’ve got two games tomorrow which we’re really looking forward to, because getting a couple more games in will be really good,” said Henderson.
“I don’t think we were too nervous going into that first game. We were all just really excited to get started and looking forward to it, so we’re now just excited to see what the rest of the week has in store.”
Live games will be available to watch through The Curling Channel in partnership with Recast.
Scotland – Team Henderson
Fay Henderson
Katie McMillan
Lisa Davie
Holly Wilkie-Milne
Robyn Mitchell
Scotland – Team Craik
James Craik
Angus Bryce
Scott Hyslop
Niall Ryder
Jack Carrick
Sunday 15 May (all times BST)
Scotland – Korea (men) 8-5
Scotland – Canada (women) 9-7
Scotland – USA (men) 6.00pm
Monday 16 May
Scotland – USA (women) – 8.00am
Scotland – New Zealand (men) – 1.00pm
Scotland – Switzerland (women) – 6.00pm
Tuesday 17 May
Scotland – Germany (men) – 8.00am
Scotland – Japan (women) – 1.00pm
Scotland – Italy (men) – 6.00pm
Wednesday 18 May
Scotland – Norway (women) – 8.00am
Scotland – Canada (men) – 1.00pm
Scotland – Latvia (women) – 6.00pm
Thursday 19 May
Scotland – Norway (men) – 8.00am
Scotland – Korea (women) – 1.00pm
Scotland – Sweden (men) – 6.00pm
Friday 20 May
Scotland – Sweden (women) – 8.00am
Scotland – Switzerland (men) – 1.00pm
Scotland – Denmark (women) - 6.00pm
Saturday 21 May
Men’s Semi Final – 1.00pm
Women’s Semi Final – 6.00pm
Sunday 22 May
Men’s Finals - 8.00am
Women’s Finals - 1.00pm
#curling #WJCC2022
