"It feels great," said Jim Pierce (North Syracuse, N.Y.), who played vice skip for USA in a crucial and somewhat stunning 5-4 win over Canada at Pinerolo Palaghiaccio today. It was only the second loss for the Canadians, and the second win for the Americans, who are trying valiantly to keep their playoff hopes alive.

With previous co-leader Norway also losing today, 7-3 to Denmark, five teams in the eight-team field are now tied for the round robin lead at 3-2. Joining Canada and Norway are Denmark, Great Britain and Switzerland. USA and Sweden are right behind the pack, at 2-3, while Italy sits at 1-4. The top four teams at the conclusion of the round robin on Wednesday will advance to semifinals. Tiebreaker games will be held as necessary to determine those four teams.

Pierce and his teammates face the Italians in the late game today, and finish up the round robin with Great Britain on Wednesday.

"That's one down and two more to go," said USA second Jimmy Joseph (New Hartford, N.Y.), who noted that he may have had a little divine intervention on his side today. "I talked to my father (Anthony Joseph Sr.) on the bus on the way over here today," said Joseph. "He died last year, so he's up above now. I told him, "Please, just help us beat this team." He was definitely on our side."

The Americans also made the most of some breaks provided by the other team, something they weren't able to fully take advantage of in their 6-4 loss to Denmark Monday night.

The biggest break, and the turning point of the game, came in the fourth end, when USA was able to build a big house after a couple of missed shots by Canada. The Americans almost saw the opportunity vanish when skip Wes Smith's first shot inadvertently removed one of his own stones rather than Canada's. But when Canadian skip Chris Daw's draw for a second counter slid through the house, Smith was given a second chance. This time his takeout was dead-on, and the hit-and-stay for points gave USA a 5-1 lead. Had Canada made its last shot, USA likely would have been drawing for one instead of hitting for four.

The Canadians had a game-breaking opportunity in the second end, with a chance to chip out a lone USA stone to score four or five. But Daw's takeout attempt jammed the U.S. stone onto one of his own in the back of the house, and Canada instead scored just one to tie the game. The Americans had stolen a point in the first end when Smith drew his last shot to the top of the button behind a guard. The Canadians' shot at chipping this one out just missed, too.

"Both teams had some missed shots," said Pierce. "We just happened to capitalize more on the ones they missed."

USA blanked the third end, when neither team could seem to get anything to stop in the house. The strategy of keeping the last-rock advantage for the next end obviously paid off.

After scoring the four, Pierce said naturally that the team was "very upbeat."

"We just talked about keeping (Canada) to at least two, and hopefully getting them to take just one, so we'd have the hammer for the last end," he said. "We were definitely pumped up, but we kept our composure."

USA lead Danell Libby (who recently moved from Chatham, N.Y. to Sprakers, N.Y.) continued her sharp-shooting ways, putting up a center guard and then drawing around it. Canada put up corner guards, and was sitting with two counters when Smith threw his first stone. Smith tried a draw rather than a takeout, and came up short of the house. Daw drew to the top of the button for a third counter. Smith played a double, however, and while he removed just one of the two Canadian counters, his stone rolled behind a guard for second count. Canada took a look at trying to remove it to score three, but instead drew in for two and trailed 5-3 playing the final end.

The sixth end started a little shaky for USA, but ended well enough. "Danell missed, then I missed, then Jim missed, and Wes, but in the end Wes came through," said Joseph. The Americans had several counters around the 12-foot, but needed only to remove one of the two Canadian stones with their last shot to secure the 5-4 win.

"It was a great game," said Joseph. "They shot well, too. It wasn't a blowout by any means."

On an adjacent sheet, Italy got off to a roaring start against Great Britain, scoring three in the first end and stealing one in the second. But the Brits dropped five on their hosts in the third end, stole another pair in the fourth for a 7-4 lead, and went on to win 8-5. Switzerland pulled off the biggest comeback of the competition to date, drawing for four with the last shot of the game to overcome Sweden, 6-5.

Four of the five co-leaders play each other in the next draw, so the Americans could find themselves in a good position with a win against Italy tonight.

Standings

Canada 3-2
Denmark 3-2
Great Britain 3-2
Norway 3-2
Switzerland 3-2
Sweden 2-3
USA 2-3
Italy 1-4