It was still Jan. 21 in Saranac Lake when they won gold on Saturday, but it was already the 22nd, the day of the Chinese New Year, in their home country.

China’s Third Ziqi Dong said their comeback on Chinese New Year’s Eve came from good teamwork and faith in themselves. China’s Second Zihui Zhu said that as the team got their points back one-by-one and heard the loud cheers from their delegation, she felt like all of China was cheering for them. She said they felt “united.”

Korea shot to an early lead, ending the second end 3-0. China got on the board with a point each in the third and fifth end, but Korea scored on the fourth. Instead of giving up, China climbed back into competition by stacking up two points in the sixth end, tying the game in a momentum-swapping blitz.

Korea couldn’t score again, as China kept hammering the center of the circle, while building walls to seal in their stones. China scored in the final two rounds to make the end score 6-4.

Jiayi Jiang, the vice-skip for the Chinese curling team, watches an incoming curling stone on the ice at the Saranac Lake Civic Center on Saturday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

It was a game of constantly building tension. Each end started fast with stones flying down the ice in rapid succession. But they gradually got slower as the teams weighed their options, looked at the board full of stones and debated where they should attack for minutes on end.

There were several complicated set-ups and the two teams were playing a heavily strategic game.

They went back and forth, knocking their opponents’ stones away, landing theirs on the pin, returning the favor and threading the needle between stones to land on the pin.

In the fifth end, the stones were so close, officials had to bring out a measuring device because they were imperceptibly close to the eye.

It was the battle of the noisemakers in the Saranac Lake Civic Center. The Chinese delegation had armloads of cowbells they were shaking and Korea brought metal drums to ring.

Korean curler Hyerin Kim shouts instructions to her teammates as a stone slides into place during their the gold medal match against China Saturday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

It may be the Year of the Rabbit, but Team China played more like a tortoise. For them, slow and steady won the race.

Team China was asked if their win coming on the New Year meant they would be celebrating twice that night — they gave an enthusiastic “Yes.”

Korean curlers, from front Taei Yang, Seung-youn Ha and Sujin Kim send a stone down the ice in the gold medal match against China on Saturday. China won in a tight competition 6-4.(Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)