Slow start dooms Team USA
Team USA missed several key shots in the first few ends and fell behind quickly to Tom Brewster's Scottish rink. Today's loss drops McCormick (Sarnia, Ontario) and teammates Craig Brown (Madison, Wis.), Bill Stopera (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.), Martin Sather (Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.) and Dean Gemmell (Short Hills, N.J.) to 3-7 overall.
Despite the slow start, the Americans rallied to pull within a point late in the game. The team turned in its best game of the week by percentages, that is, with an 88 percent team effort, with Sather throwing a perfect 100 percent in the lead position.
"Both Craig (Brown) and I missed some shots in the first couple of ends that hurt us. I was brutal. I made some good ones in the middle of the game and got back into it. Unfortunately, Scotland played really well in the last three or four ends, and we just couldn't get back," McCormick said. "My shot in nine, I thought it was made, and they would have been forced to one ... and we would try to get two coming home, but that wasn't the case.
With the win, Scotland (8-3) clinched a spot in the Page 1-2 game against Canada (9-1). Canada lost its first match of the week in an extra end to New Zealand, which is trying to make the country's first-ever appearance in the playoffs of the men's world championship.
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