Scotland skip James Craik is hoping that it will be third time lucky for him at the World Junior Championships after once again finishing top of the round-robin standings and heading into the playoffs as top seeds. 
Craik was part of Ross Whyte’s team that achieved the feat in 2019, before he then skipped his own line-up, containing current teammates Niall Ryder and Angus Bryce to top spot in 2020.
On both occasions they had to settle for bronze medals, but he is pleased that along with Scott Hyslop, who has joined the team since that 2020 campaign, they have ensured there can be no repeat this time around after finishing their round-robin campaign with a hard fought 8-5 win over Switzerland.
“I’ve been in this position twice already before where we’ve topped the round-robin and then gone into the semis and unfortunately we lost both times to Switzerland, but this time we were able to put them out in that last round-robin game there,” Craik observed.
As well as ensuring that they topped the rankings, the win set them up for a re-match with Norway, whom they beat 9-2 earlier in the week and they believe their final round-robin match was the ideal preparation for the playoffs.
“We’re really happy to be ranked number one going into the playoffs,” said Craik.
“It was a really tough game against Switzerland. Their third and skip really came out firing.
“We’re taking a lot of positives going into the semis where we play Norway. We played against them yesterday and had a really, really strong game against them, so we’re hoping to bring much of the same again. 
“Going into the Norway game is kind of a new experience, going in with this team. I don’t think we’ve ever had a championships where we’ve been so dominant, so I’m really looking forward to it and the guys are really psyched up.”
As they aim to make the most of their last opportunity at the World Junior Championship together, the 21-year-old believes that what they have been through over the past few years will stand them in good stead.
“Three of us have been to a Worlds before and played in the playoffs, so we are very excited and we’ve got that experience over the Norwegians,” said Craik.
“They are new to this, so we are hoping that we can come in with a little bit of experience and a nice level mindset.”
While he and Bryce have performed consistently well throughout the week, Craik gave credit to Hyslop and Ryder for the opportunity they have provided for them to shine.
“We came out very strong against Norway in the round-robin,” he said.
“The front end played fantastic and I think that was really the key. We were always set up really well and their back end didn’t have the fire-power or accuracy to put us under pressure after that.
“So, the key is in the front end for us. If they fire well and shoot really good numbers we’ll be laughing, so here’s hoping.” 
While past experience offers a reminder that the playoffs are always a completely new competition, they intend to maintain the same approach ahead of the knockout matches.
“We’ll really keep just things much the same and stick to our processes that we followed through the round-robin,” said Craik.
“We’re quite reliant on routine as a team, so we just want to keep that going and treat it as much the same.
“We’re playing really well and excited to see what we can do in the playoffs.”
In the women’s event, Team Henderson went into their final match against bottom placed Denmark knowing they cannot avoid finishing in the bottom three.
That means Scotland will have to qualify for the World Junior Championship next season through the World Junior B competition earlier in the season, following an 11-4 defeat to hosts Sweden in their penultimate match.
Live games will be available to watch through The Curling Channel in partnership with Recast.
Scotland – Team Craik
James Craik
Angus Bryce
Scott Hyslop
Niall Ryder
Jack Carrick
Scotland – Team Henderson
Fay Henderson
Katie McMillan
Lisa Davie
Holly Wilkie-Milne
Robyn Mitchell
Sunday 15 May (all times BST)
Scotland – Korea (men) 8-5
Scotland – Canada (women) 9-7
Scotland – USA (men) 9-1
Monday 16 May
Scotland – USA (women) 8-9
Scotland – New Zealand (men) 10-5
Scotland – Switzerland (women) 3-8
Tuesday 17 May
Scotland – Germany (men) 6-4
Scotland – Japan (women) 4-7
Scotland – Italy (men) 6-4
Wednesday 18 May
Scotland – Norway (women) 7-9
Scotland – Canada (men) 6-7 (EE)
Scotland – Latvia (women) 7-5
Thursday 19 May
Scotland – Norway (men) 9-2
Scotland – Korea (women) 8-9 (EE)
Scotland – Sweden (men) 11-4
Friday 20 May
Scotland – Sweden (women) 4-11
Scotland – Switzerland (men) 8-5
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
Images: WCF/Cheyenne Boone
#curling #WJCC2022
