Canada's Kerri Einarson reached the upper echelons of the women's world curling championship where an extra breath and a pause before sliding out of the hack becomes necessary.
A 9-8 playoff win over Denmark on Saturday afternoon sent Canada into the evening semifinals and a matchup with South Korea.
Einarson's foursome out of Manitoba's Gimli Curling Club are three-time Canadian champions, but the 2022 world championship in Prince George, B.C., was their first playing in an arena with fans cheering for the host country.
The world championship in Prince George two years ago was cancelled and last year's championship in Calgary was played without spectators because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the stakes rise for Canada in this championship, so has the crowd reaction at the CN Centre and the players' adrenaline after every Canadian shot.
Einarson wouldn't have it any other way, but she doesn't want her team necessarily riding the emotional roller-coaster the fans are.
"Being able to just take an extra second in the hack, take a big deep breath, yeah, that's definitely key," Einarson said.
"The crowd's been unbelievable and we appreciate all their cheers. We're very grateful to be able to have this again."
Sweden's Anna Hasselborg ousted Cory Christensen of the United States 8-5 in the afternoon's other playoff game to advance to the semifinals against two-time defending champion Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland.
The semifinal victors play for gold and the losers for bronze Sunday.
Jennifer Jones (2018) and Rachel Homan (2017) skipped the only Canadian teams to win women's world titles in the last dozen played.
Einarson, third Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard and lead Briane Meilleur opened last year's championship in Calgary with a 1-5 record, yet ground out six wins in their next seven games to squeeze into the final playoff spot.
The Canadians were then eliminated in a loss to Hasselborg to fall short of the semifinals.
Einarson and company went 9-3 in the preliminary round in Prince George to earn the third playoff seed behind Switzerland (12-0) and South Korea (9-3).
Sweden (9-3), the U.S. (8-4) and Denmark (7-5) completed the playoff field.
An open hit to score three in the eighth end and take control of Saturday's see-saw battle against Denmark's Madeleine Dupont was a moment where Einarson decelerated before delivering her stone.
"Even going down the ice, I just kind of slow everything down and when I get in the hack, I take an extra breath and that seems to help me," Einarson said.
Einarson's triple takeout in the fifth end in front of 1,850 at the CN Centre bailed her team out of trouble and limited Dupont to a draw for one to be tied 4-4.
Draws around guards and finesse taps by Birchard and Sweeting in the back half of the game helped keep pressure on the Danes, and also took some pressure off their skip throwing final stones.
Up two points coming home with hammer, Einarson executed a simple peel of one of two Danish counters in the rings for the victory.
Managing the enhanced emotions that come with wearing the Maple Leaf in front of home-country fans who are knowledgeable about their sport was part of Einarson's team prep for Prince George.
"Our adrenaline is obviously pumping quite a bit more in a high-level game and with the crowd cheering you on as well, so we talked about taking that extra breath in the hack, resetting if we need to if things are too loud, and make sure we're clearly communicating," Birchard explained.
"Even just kicking a little bit slower than we think we want to just because, if anything, we're going to have a little extra weight with the adrenaline in our systems."
Having her husband Kyle and eight-year-old twin daughters Khloe and Kamryn in the arena to cheer her on as Canada's skip made Einarson emotional to speak about it.
Einarson hugged her daughters in the corner of the arena Saturday afternoon before starting her pre-game warmup.
"It definitely helps me. Every time I look up there and see their smiling faces, it's pretty special," Einarson said. "I know I'm away a lot. It's hard on them and it's hard on my husband, but to have them here is pretty special."
