Game 13 and 14 Recaps

Last week was another D level team and just like in weeks past, we (I) started out slow and they stole 3 in the first end.  (How do we keep letting this happen?)  But we chipped and didn't panic and when scored 4 a few ends later, we were feeling good.  And then we eventually won the game.

But this last game was our first game against an A level team since early December.  And then I learned that they only have one loss for the season so far.  (Wow).  After the game, I would learn that the opposing skip remembers what happened last season.  (My team beat theirs on the last shot of the game, as recapped here.) 

Kind of an auspicious start before the game.  I had lined up a sub, but then an hour before the game, he cancelled as he had basically been curling nonstop that Sunday (congrats on almost winning the Winter Carnival Bonspiel).  Right before our game, I spotted someone else we knew and convinced him to stay for one more game.

Ee pretty much kept the game close.  (If I had made a couple freezes, we might have scored more.)  By the seventh end, the opposing team (with hammer) was looking at something like this.  (There might have even been more guards up front.)  They have hammer and they're yellow.

If it was me (and the other skip incidentally), I would go for the point and do the raise.  Blanking the end hadn't even popped into my head as an option until I saw them throw the rock.  It was a choice of being up two without hammer vs being up one with hammer coming home (or being tied with hammer if you miss).  So in terms of risk, blanking the end was a good choice as the takeout was the easier shot.

So now we're in the eighth end.  With his first shot, the opposing skip made a great double takeout.  There goes my shot at stealing two.

And then I threw garbage for my last rock.  The raise might have given us a shot at going to an extra end, but oh well.

These two games brings the record to 8-5 and the competitive record to 2-3.