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. 

Novice Bonspiel Recap

I had to get my post on the greatest shot of my life out before I forgot, but now I'm ready to write a general recap of my experience at the Novice Bonspiel at the St. Paul Curling Club.
First off, congratulations to the Rohde rink for winning the third event.  I finally got to meet him in person on Saturday and hopefully, my team will get to play his at some other bonspiel in the future.

Since Friday was April Fool's Day, we thought it'd be funny to show up in hockey jerseys and Vice and Lead wore hockey helmets.  I also wore a hockey glove when I wasn't throwing.  Also, before the game, we kinda messed around hitting a puck on the ice with our brooms.  And my signal for takeouts was changed to the cross checking motion.

Anyway, we won our first game 12-6.  I feel like the main difference my opponents and my team was that their lead continually threw rocks through the house and Lead kept his in play.  Also, Vice had a double takeout, which is always nice for making up for some other misses earlier in that end.  Our opposing skip brought root beer schnapps and we all did a root beer barrel after the game.  Cool team to hang out with after the game.

Because our first game was at 5PM on Friday, we also get to play at 8:30AM the following Saturday.  (We stayed for a while after our first game, but didn't close the place down or anything afterward.)  Our opposing skip is a guy that's subbed for my team before so that was cool to play his team.  I don't remember the final score, but I believe it would have been something like 9-8.  In the last end, they were down four, but only had the ability to score three.  I didn't really call a particularly great game, but I think we all played well and both Vice and Second had double takeouts.  And even though it was still morning after our game, we stayed a while with the other team hanging out.  (Then, nap time, at least for me.)

So now, we're in the first event.  I've done this bonspiel three times before (my team couldn't make it my first year).  My first two times, my team was in the fourth event, but played (and lost) the first game on Sunday.  Last year, we were in the third event, but didn't make it to Sunday.  Kind of a nice jump up I think.  And I think we're playing pretty well, and I felt like we had a good shot at things.

First, an old teammate was unexpectedly in town and it was awesome to hang out with him.  And Second brought his fiancee and baby (dressed in the same curling onesie shown here.)  And my wife and Vice's girlfriend were able to watch our game.  (Lead's wife had other obligations.) 

Our opponents for our first event game are one of many matching outfit teams.  (They have matching outfits throughout the season, not just for the bonspiel.)  They also have the game to match.  (Surprisingly, none of them had curling shoes; they still used sliders.)  I tried to play takeouts with them for a couple ends and my team was the one that missed them.  We scored four in the second end, but that was really kind of a fluke in retrospect where they missed a couple shots.  And the seventh end ended with my greatest curling shot to tie the game. 

It's now my first shot of the eighth end and I'm faced with this.

I think I have three choices.  We have the double raise (in red), which has the advantage of built in protection if I hit the shot.  There might be difficulty getting the right angle and weight on the shot, so we looked at the two draw options.  The draw to the left is probably the correct shot as a runback would be difficult, but I liked the draw to the right just based on what I feel more comfortable with and we saw other shots really curl in that direction so I thought it would be more likely to get behind the guards.  Of course I was wrong and my rock was open for a takeout, which they made.  Now, I have this:

I thought I really only had the option of the hit and roll.  I thought I hit the shot right where I wanted (doesn't always happen), but the rock just kept going until it was finally in the open.  My opponents don't miss takeouts and won the game 10-8.  Should I have done the raise with my first shot?  I guess I'll never know.

Still, it was a good run and my team played really well.  We had a good time afterward as did everyone else I think.  My wife and I each got a wingspan and we left with a pair of dish towels with curling stones sewn on (kind of cool).  Second won something else, but equally underwhelming.  We did not win the iPad or the wall of wine or the wall of beer. 

We had discussed a funny scenario (if we write a good curling movie) where I'm hoisting the trophy after winning the first event and then

It was my last novice bonspiel and I've definitely come a long way in the last five years.  I should have something more profound to say, but oh well.  My son will be born any day now (I'll thank him someday for letting me play this past weekend [already thanked my wife]) so I might not be blogging for a little while.  But I'll try to get in a post or two following my brother's games and I think I'm going to blog about curling patents through the years so keep an eye out for that.  In the meantime, feel free to send me a note and I could talk about someone else's curlng experience on here.