The last time Matt and Becca Hamilton faced off against Russia in mixed doubles curling was at the 2017 World Championships, a match in which they were defeated 7-5 and eliminated from contention.
During Wednesday night’s opener of the 2018 Winter Olympics, the Hamilton’s got their revenge in a big way, defeating Team OAR 9-3 in seven ends.
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The Americans, or #HamFam as they’ve become known on Twitter, jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead after Becca cleared the house with a double-takeout on the final throw of the end.
Team OAR got two back in the second, but from them on out it was all Team USA. The Hamilton’s won by mere millimeters in the third, then were able to steal a point in the fourth to take a 5-2 lead midway through the game.
Team USA continued to add to their lead in the fifth by scoring two after Aleksandr Krushelnitckii of burned a rock, continuing the woes of Team OAR and forcing them to use the power play in the sixth end. While OAR got a point back in the sixth off of the power play, their mistakes caught up to them. All the Hamilton’s had to do was place a rock on a wide-open button in the seventh to get a six point lead and force OAR to concede the final end.
USA 3 0 1 1 2 0 1 x - 9
OAR 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 x - 3