Game 10 and 11 Recaps

Wow.  That was a bit of a layoff.  Surprisingly, I haven't had any days with zero hits.  It was probably helpful that I posted the gift guide.  (Thanks to the anonymous person that actually clicked on an amazon link and bought something.)

You might notice that I haven't posted a Game 9 Recap.  This is because the team canceled on us like two days before our scheduled game.  So I scheduled a makeup game and they said they could make it and then the day before they cancel again.  I'm a little miffed (just tell me that you can't make it.)  Lead thinks we should force a forfeit from them since they canceled twice.  There's a tiny chance this might matter in the final standings as we're both A level teams.

I'll recap Game 11 first.  I had my whole team together and we're playing a D level team so they got three points.  This was definitely the worst game of the season, at least one where there wasn't a teammate missing.  Vice believes (and I agree) that we were kind of intimidated by the three point handicap.  We really tried to score big ends and it ended up backfiring.  In the first end, the other team stole 2 and we're looking at 5-0 and that's just tough to see.  It's possible that if I had played more conservatively, we would have chipped away at the score.  I didn't though.  I think the final score was something like 10-2.  Just bad.

Game 10 was a tough game.  Our opponents were a C level team.  This surprised me because they had beaten us handily at the Novice Bonspiel a couple years ago.  We were fighting to keep pace the whole game.  In the eighth end, we were down three, but had hammer.  Surprisingly, the opposing skip had missed both of his takeouts and we were able to tie up the game and take it to an extra end.  We played one rock each, but they had hammer.  I'm looking at this for my shot. 

Vice and I considered playing a guard for our rock in the house (1).  The opposing skip had made takeouts for the game and thought we might as well force a draw to the button.  Perhaps if the opposing skip hadn't done too well on takeouts, we might have tried for a guard/top of the house type shot (2).  But then we decided to just draw to the button and hopefully get behind the guard (3).  But alas, the rock picked (not blaming Vice's beard for this one) so the rock was in the open.

Now, the other skip didn't throw a takeout.  Probably a good idea to make sure the rock stays in play.  But I think most people would have thrown the rock with back line weight or maybe a little more and use my rock as a backstop.  The opposing skip actually threw light.  His teammates were furiously sweeping and then we end up having to measure the rocks.  His rock was closer by 2mm.  Oh well.

With these two games, the record is now 6-4 with the competitive record remaining at 2-2. 

Game 6 Recap

First, happy Thanksgiving!  On to the post...

It's official.  I'm skipping an A level team.  My opponents this time got three points, making them a D level team.  This is quite a fall for them as last season, they shook off a slow start to be in the hunt for second half champion.  (FYI, we have champions for first half, second half, and the full season, which gets you into the top bracket for the playdowns.)

The final score was 10-4 after five ends, though I would add that the game was closer than that.  This was a case where their rocks were just a little long or just a few inches off line and my team was able to take advantage. 

After having my team together the last few weeks, both Lead and Second were out.  (Second's in Florida having a small destination wedding.  Congrats!)  And I was able to get some of my regular subs to play for them so that was good.

I'm going to outline the last shot here.  The first few stones were spent playing freezes and a couple takeouts, which account for the rocks in the house.  After a few missed shots from the opposing team, I was able to set up all of the guards (my team is red).  For his last shot, Vice and I suggested to the opposing third that they try to raise their high guard to try to score one.  (I do realize that shot could have easily raised a red rock, but they really didn't have much choice.)  As it turns out, he missed the raise, but still hit the corner guard.  Off the bounce, it was headed towards the button and Vice even helped the opposing third try to sweep it in, but it wasn't meant to be.  I think that pretty much shows how their game went.

This game brings our record to 5-1 and our competitive record remains at 1-1. 

Game 3 Recap

Got the team back together for the first time this season so that was fun.  Our opponents get a two point handicap and we would also learn that this was their first year in the league.  This was only their second game as they were a replacement team after a team no showed their first week.  They were definitely new to curling as I had to give a couple explanations on rules during the game. 

My team played very well during the game.  The final score was 11-5 and my team's score might have been better if the third end had gone better. 

So we're in the third end and the score is 7-2.  My team is yellow and after Lead's rocks, things are looking good for this end with a rock buried.  I called a draw (1) for Second and then he was short with his first shot.  I compounded this call with my next call for him to draw even further to the side (2) and he was short again.  In Second's defense, I should have called for a lot more weight on these shots as that ice really hadn't been used that much by this point in the game.

As it turns out, by the time my shots came around they were sitting two.  My second shot was completely messed up and I raised one of their rocks in and they ended up scoring three. Fortunately, that end was a wakeup call for my team and we got ourselves back on track after that end. 

I'm not sure calling rocks in the house on that side was the correct call.  My feeling at the time was that my team didn't have hammer for that end and I could force them to try to take out our rocks.  I wasn't going to call any shots on the other side as a miss may have raised the opponents' stone.  Maybe another center guard would have been helpful.  In that case, a raise takeout for the opponents would be difficult and drawing to either side would be useless unless they find a way to take out the rock on the button.

Anyway, after the game, the opposing skip said, "Thanks for the education".  So I guess he learned a couple things during the game. 

FYI, this game brings our record to 2-1, but our record against "competitive" teams remains at 0-1.

One more thing.  My team is interested in finding one more person to play with them for the novice bonspiel (since I aged out).  Let me know if you'd like to play with my very fun teammates.

Analyzing a Bond Girls End

There was no curling this past week, so let's take a closer look at the final end of a Bond Girls match vs. New Jersey.  As of this posting, New Jersey has the best record in the Curling Club Nationals and will be vying for the championship later today.  Here's the video in case you want to watch. 



I'm going to talk about the tenth end, which starts at roughly the 2:24 mark.  After scoring 6 points in the first 3 ends, the Bond Girls would give up 7 points over the next 6 ends.  Fortunately, the Bond Girls are only down one coming home and they have hammer.  That didn't work out for them in their earlier game against Wisconsin, but let's see what happens here.  (In case you didn't watch the movie, the Bond Girls are yellow.)  Also, I have no idea what the time situation was at that moment, but no one really seemed too rushed. 

New Jersey's first rock was in the house.  A good call to see if they can force a takeout game for the end. 

But Marissa called a freeze for Donna, which I consider the right call.  At least see what happens before doing a takeout.  Donna's throw was a little bit too heavy, but a good stone. 

After New Jersey missed their takeout completely to take out their own rock, Donna drew to the other side to split the house.  Good call and good throw.

New Jersey then missed freeze, which left a wide open takeout.  Jen made the shot. However, New Jersey, made a nice bump/freeze shot.  (There should be a better name for this.)

Marissa goes for the takeout, even if it takes out their own instead.  New Jersey's rock does jam against a yellow, but is open.  Still, a nice rock from Jen.  I would have called the same thing for Second and ask that he put lots of weight on it (and hope he hits the broom).

I'm not sure if New Jersey had shot rock after that.  However, they went for a draw, which ended up being more open than they would have liked.  I think if this were my game, I might have thrown a guard if I was shot rock, but the draw keeps the pressure on to make some takeouts.

Cindy missed the open takeout.  New Jersey then threw a guard (the right call in my opinion).  In the next shot, Marissa called for a runback on the left side to raise their rock inside the four foot.  However, Cindy's shot perfectly made it past the guard and the yellow rock to bump New Jersey's rock and take shot rock.  Wow.

New Jersey missed a takeout with their next rock and Marissa threw a well placed guard on the left side.

New Jersey has two choices here I think.  You have the draw on the right side.  Really, you have to be perfect on weight and line because you're either drawing to the button or hoping to bump the yellow stone.  Another, more interesting, option is the runback.  If the red rock is hit on the nose, it would go straight down the center.  Maybe it stays, but hopefully, it at least leaves you sitting one.  Of course, this is a dangerous shot and a number of things could go wrong.  New Jersey went for the draw.  (I probably would have too.)

They missed just a little long on weight.  This was good for the Bond Girls as it gave them an additional backstop if necessary.  Of course, Marissa didn't need it at all and drew perfectly to the button.

Whew.  That was a long post.  I guess that's what happens when you have video to remind you of every little thing.  But a very exciting finish and an awesome win for the Bond Girls.

Game 16 Recap

Finally, a win; the final score was 8-4.  We haven't had a win since Game 11 and that was roughly six weeks ago.  This brings our record to 8-6 with 2 incomplete games and I'm not sure yet if/when we'll get around to those incompletes. 

But before we get to my own game, I actually subbed in a game right before.  I warned my skip that I had a game in two hours so if they went long I might not make it.  Of course, as it turns out, in the last end, the opposing team scored three to tie up the game (my skip had some bad misses).  So we had to go to an extra end, but I really just had enough time to throw my own rock so I didn't sweep any rocks in that last end.  Fortunately, they were able to pull out the win. 

I want to spotlight one scenario from this game.  My team has hammer and is red.  If I recall, we were up by two or three.  It's the first shot for my team's third. 

Now, I tend to play a bit more of an offense game, but I thought the most logical shot was to take out one or more of the guards.  Really, I figured you would just throw the rock down the middle (shown in red) and you couldn't help but hit something.  My thinking is my team is up and this end is ripe for a steal if the other team can make a nice raise. Instead, my skip called the hit and roll off the rock in the house (shown in black).  For both of the third's rocks, we went for that shot and missed it on both sides.  Fortunately, the other team basically missed all of their shots (too bad after setting up a nice end).  Then, with his last shot, my skip was able to draw in a rock (shown in green) to score one, though I think that shot was more difficult than it needed to be.

On to my game.  I had hoped to have my whole team together for the first time in a little while, but alas, Lead was sick.  He had tried to call me, but I was subbing.  Oh well.  We just played with the three of us.  We started out pretty poorly.  In the first end, the opposing team was sitting four, but because we had hammer, I was able to cut that down to them just stealing one.  Fortunately, we settled down after that. 

I can't really remember any major strategy decisions, but here's a shot I should've made. I guess like most other skips (I assume), I remember shots I missed.

In this situation, my team is up two (I think), we're yellow, we have hammer, and it's my last shot.



The obvious goal is to take out the red stone and then we'd (hopefully) score four.  How to call it?  Well, we knew rocks tended to curl a little more to the outside on that side.  So I had Vice hold the broom on the edge of the four foot (as opposed to right next to the red rock) and then I threw takeout weight (the black arrow).  To our surprise, the rock curled all the way over to our own stone (the green arrow) so we only scored two.  Of course, in retrospect, I now wonder if I should've thrown an in turn (the red arrow) and thrown back line weight and used the red rock as a back stop.  I'm now thinking there would've been a greater chance to score three.  But I guess it didn't matter as we won by four.

Anyway, it was a good two games and it was good to get back on track.

Game 11 Recap

After a week off (no subbing), we were back on the ice.  Vice actually hadn't played since Game 7 back in early December.  I needed subs for Lead (vacation) and Second (congrats on the baby boy!), but our subs played well.  My team won the game 13-7 after 8 ends, though we could've called it after 7 ends (my team was up by six), but the opposing skip wanted to throw the rocks back down.  This brings our record to 7-3, which I think is pretty good, especially since games 3 and 7 were so close.

Interesting thing about the opposing team was that they were on a little bit of a losing streak.  They decided to switch things up by moving their lead all the way to skip and then everyone took a step down.  I would've expected her to not be so good at takeouts, but she had some hit and rolls and a nice runback.  A few years ago, my own team had some trouble and I'm not sure why, but for one game Vice and I decided that we'd play first and second and Second and FormerLead (who would leave Minnesota the following summer) played third and fourth.  Without going into detail, it was just a disaster and we lost by a lot.  But I think we all learned something though.  So if you're having some trouble with your team, I guess I would say don't be afraid to shake up your order, even if just for one game.

In the scenario below, it's SecondSub's first shot.  My team doesn't have hammer, we're yellow rocks, and we're up by three (in the sixth end I believe). 

I was conflicted as to what to call here.  I decided to call a shot in the top of the house (#1), one that was completely exposed, which we did make with a fair amount of sweeping help.  Of course, that shot was taken out and then I did it again.  The opposing team ended up taking one for that end.  I feel though that with a little bit more thought, this setup could've led to a steal for my team.
 
One reason for playing the rock in the house was that the opposing team's front end had been a little inconsistent with their takeouts so I thought I'd test that out.  I know though that against other teams, hoping for a missed takeout (on a wide open shot) usually doesn't work out for me.  One shot I strongly considered was playing a guard instead of in the house, just in front of where the shot ended up (#2).  That's probably the more sensible play as it forces the other team to either take out a guard or attempt a runback.  Another option would be to place a guard to block the raise (#3).  Then, if they play a rock in the house, I can try to take that out or draw to it. 

I didn't want to draw to the four foot in this situation; I felt it was a little more dangerous.  If the shot's off on line, it might raise their stone.  If it's too heavy, then there's a nice backstop to draw to.  So I thought the open shot was a decent play. 

Anyway, it was a good game.  The opposing team lead by three a couple times, but my team had two four point ends.  (Big sigh of relief after those two ends.)

Game 10 Recap

Not that you're keeping track, but you may have noticed that I jumped from Game 8 to Game 10 for my recaps.  Due to the holidays Game 9 has been postponed.  I'm guessing Game 9 doesn't really affect the league standings or else there might be some pressure to get the makeup game scheduled.

Anyway, my team played well and we posted an 8-2 win after 7 ends.  Supposedly, we're evenly matched as B level teams.  I would've guessed that their team would be much better as I've played against this skip before and their lead and second have been subs for me in the past. 

Vice was out at the last minute, but fortunately, I was able to find a sub an hour before the game.  My sub was in his first year, but while there was some trouble hitting the broom, I'm happy to say that his weight was pretty good the whole game. 

Here's a memorable shot, at least for me.  The situation is my team is up by 4 or 5 and we don't have hammer.  It's the second shot for Second (who's playing third).

I decided to call a guard to block the raise (rock #1).  My thinking was that I'd just make it very difficult to score.  As it turns out, due to a bad no sweep call by me, the rock didn't make it across the hog line.  The opposing team did make a raise, but was only able to score one for the end. 

The better call might have been to just take out that rock (#2), but I just wasn't positive that we could make that shot.  There was a danger to me that we'd have the wrong angle and all that happens is their rock gets raised into the house behind all the guards.  (There may have been other rocks that aren't pictured that may have made the takeout a little more difficult as well, but I don't remember.)  What I've also been thinking about is that by calling the guard, I was basically conceding the end with my best case scenario being a blanked end.  I was OK with that (my team's up), but if that takeout was made, the rock might have rolled into the house or might be set up for a raise with one of my shots.

I guess it didn't really matter as my team won, but it's always good to keep the more aggressive plays in mind.  I also thought it was interesting that in the previous end, all 16 rocks were in play at the end.  I think that's the first time that's ever happened in a game I've played in.

Game 7 Recap

This one was a heartbreaker.  My team had the game in hand, but we lost on the last shot of the game when the opposing skip made a beautiful draw that barely made it past multiple guards.  Final score was 9-7 and that takes our record down to 4-3.  Sigh.  I'll break down the final four shots of the game here.  It's the eighth end and I'm down 1.  With my first shot, I play a guard to block off any shots on the right side.  I actually threw it light, but my guys barely swept it across the hog line.

With his first shot of the end, the opposing skip went for a takeout on shot rock and his rock stayed.

With my shot, I also went for a takeout.  I thought the shot was perfect because my rock rolled behind a little bit of cover.

But then the skip made an absolutely gorgeous shot to win the game.  That rock barely made it past both guards.

It was really the most exciting game I've been a part of.  I made some pretty dumb mistakes early on.  For example, I had to make a takeout to score four, but then messed it up and the other team scored one.  At one point, my team was down six, but I made a beautiful (and very lucky) double takeout to score three.  The other team played really well though.  I was surprised that they're a D level team and got two points against us.  But I don't think I could've done any better on that last end.

Game 6 Recap

Before the game, I was surprised to see that my opponents got two points for their handicap.  I guess that means that my team is now a B level, so that's good for us.  To sum up, we won 8-5 in the 6th end (a couple rocks were left so we didn't technically finish the end) so another good win for my team.  My opponents had really only started curling in spring league from a few months ago so that's good for them.

One of the highlights include a double from my opponents first second.  To explain, their second was going to be late so they had one of their buddies play the first end.  This guy had never curled before, but on his second shot, they called a takeout.  As it so happens, the guy got a double.  I'm pretty sure that I didn't get a double my first year, let alone in my first end, so that was pretty cool for them.

Another interesting situation happened in the fourth end.  My team is down one and we don't have hammer.  As you can see below, my team is sitting four with some decent cover.

I thought a guard covering my team's rocks was the best shot.  As it turns out, I was a little heavy, but now my team is sitting five.  I actually can't remember the opposing skip's next shot, but I know nothing was affected by the shot.

Now, there's a decision.  The opposing skip has two shots, right?  One is a takeout on the right side and hopefully he gets two rocks, but probably has no shot at scoring.  The other is a draw on the left side.  There's a chance at getting shot rock but if it's in the house it might reduce the score a little.  The more logical shot is probably a guard against the draw on the right, but Vice and I quickly agreed to the guard on the right side.  The other team really hadn't made any draws during the entire game.  Their two scoring ends required some fairly difficult raises and runbacks (and a little luck).  Anyway, I got a good guard up front and the opposing skip wildly missed his draw (both on line and on weight). 

This was my team's first end this season where we scored four or more.  We were up 8-4 after that and that was pretty much it.  Record's now 4-2 with three more games to go in this half of the season.

11-8-10 Highlight of the Week

This shot from Jennifer Jones happens to be the first hit when searching for "curling shot" on youtube.



Can you imagine even going for a takeout off a corner guard?  Now, I've actually called a shot off a corner guard maybe twice.  There's so little margin of error for the angle it has to hit at and the shot was missed pretty terribly.

Game 3 Recap

Another loss for my team which brings our record to 1-2.  The final score was 6-5 and it was a close game the whole way.  I even had a chance to win it in on my last shot but totally choked and the shot was short.  It was probably off line too, but it didn't have a chance.  We were up against an A-level team and my team (who I've now deduced is C-level) got 2 points.  It felt good to know that my team can kind of hang with an A-level team.  We actually beat this team last year, though it kind of came on a technicality (they moved a rock before it was scored and decided to give us the point for it.)  But this is a team that should be way better than us since they play and bonspiel all the time. 

So the situation was tied after the seventh end and my team had hammer for the final end.  Their first shot was in the house, as shown here:

I decided to call a freeze, but it ended up a little short, like this.  In retrospect, that might have been the call that ruined the end.  I only had to score one to win.  Maybe it would have been best to keep everything clean so that I'd have a clear shot at the end. 

As it turns out, basically every rock was still in play with 1 rock left to go for each skip.  It something like this.  There were a bunch of guards up front, but I don't really remember where they all were.  Our two (red) rocks up front were supposed to guard against raises, but I guess they ended up too close to my oppononents' stones.  The opposing skip made a beautiful shot for one.

Supposedly, cursing's not allowed on the ice, but I definitely let out an F-bomb after that shot.  The pressure was on and I couldn't make my shot.  Oh well.  It was a good game though.