What Team Canada women's curling needs to happen in match vs. Korea to make Olympic playoffs

Team Canada still has medal dreams for it's women's curling team.

But the first elimination game has arrived on Thursday against Korea.

It's still technically the preliminary round, but one of the teams participating will be heading home.

Canada is 5-3. Korea is 5-3. 

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In this competition, the top-four teams out of the nine-match preliminary round advance to the Olympic semifinals and get a chance to win medals. Everyone else's tournament ends after those nine qualifying matches.

And there's one simple way for Canada to advance.

What does Team Canada women's curling need to advance to Olympic playoffs?

There's just one scenario here: Win and in.

If Canada beats Korea, it'll keep its Olympic dreams alive.

A loss will send Canada home, and in that case would send Korea onward in the tournament.

It's a dramatic place to be, putting a huge focus on every single stone tossed throughout the match on Thursday (8:05 a.m. ET, 2:05 p.m. local time in Italy).

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It'll create some serious intensity in the strategy of every shot, and could have both teams playing quite deliberately in the early going to try and seize the hammer at an advantageous time.

The whole country of Canada will surely be watching, hoping for advancement before turning their eyes to women's hockey later in the day.

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