Team Strong 100 101 1x = 4
Miller Lite / Platinum Business Solutions 030 020 0x = 5
This was an entertaining game with lots of rocks in play. The women scored just 4 singles and held the opposition to scores on just two ends, but it wasn’t enough ….. barely. The big difference was a 3-count by Miller Lite / Platinum Business Solutions in the 2nd end after Heather Strong drew first blood with hammer by making a short raise with 7 rocks in the 12-foot circle. Skip Paul Harvey drew for the 3 after the women jammed a couple of takeouts. After Strong drew against 4 to make the score 3-2 at the half, the men went ahead 5-2 in the 5th end (the women elected to force the opposition to a single, Strong’s guard overcurled, and Harvey executed a chip to the button for a pair). Strong drew against two in the 6th end and in the 7th Harvey with hammer hit the piece that he could see of shot rock at the top of the button but it was not enough to score (the only stolen point of the game). In the 8th end Strong made a slash triple takeout with her first stone, but on her second rock trying to foillow Harvey’s draw Strong’s stone crashed making the final score 5-4. Miller Lite / Platinum Business Solutions is one of 3 teams with 5 losses hoping to catch 6-4 Therapeutic Services Physiotherapy for 4th place. Team Strong (6-6) not only has to hope for Therapeutic Services Physiotherapy to lose two of their remaining 3 games but that the 3 teams with 5 losses all lose one of their remaining games. (In short, everything has to go right + they have to win their last round robin game.)
MAKEUP GAME:
Carroll Investments 121 110 x = 6
Fun ‘N’ Fast 000 001 x = 1
You know things are going well when you steal the first 5 ends of an 8-end game!!! It has to be all the sweeter when you enter the game with a 7-game SuperLeague losing streak AND the opposition (7-3 Fun ‘N’ Fast) is in playoff position AND you are an aspiring Junior Team AND the opposition is the most decorated team in the League (in terms of the number of National Championship appearances on their resumes).
In the words of Fun ‘N’ Fast third, Mark Noseworthy, “Carroll Investments brought their “A Game” and we didn’t”. Four of those steals were singles, but the big damage came in the 2nd end with a deuce making the score 3-0. Carroll Investments coach, Gary Ryan, credits the Team for making an aggressive call in the proper ciurcumstance. They chose to draw around a guard to lie two when earlier in their year they would have put up another guard (opposing skip, Jeff Thomas, crashed attempting a quiet takeout). The final score was 6-1 after the seniors were held to a single in the 6th end.
Carroll Investments 021 201 00 = 6
Team A. Harvey 000 030 31 = 7
At stake here was a position in the Standings and $35 for a round robin win; both teams were eliminated from playoff contention. Carroll Investments took over from where they left off the previous night (see above) with 3 stolen points and a 5-0 lead at the half. Their pair in the 2nd end with hammer came when skip Andrew Taylor was counting two but had no path to the button to get a third counter closer than the closest Team A. Harvey rock. In the second half of the game, however, the juniors were outscored 7-1. The come-back featured 3-counts in the 5th and 7th ends, the second on a measure. Then there was a tragic stolen single in the 8th end (the only stolen point they gave up in 14 ends this week). Taylor, with hammer and a wide open house needed a draw to the 8-foot circle for a second victory, but his offering (swept hard out of his hand) came up a couple of inches short. The final score was 7-6; a dramatic way to finish the first SuperLeague Season for the junior foursome. They opened their Season dramatically as well, winning 3 of their first 4 games, and they get $140 for their wins on top of oddles of experience.
Fun ‘N’ Fast 300 000 30 = 6
McInnes Cooper 001 112 02 = 7
The biggest score registered this week in SuperLeague was a 3-ender (and there were seven of them). All were scored by winning teams (except for this game the “feature attraction”). Fun ‘N’ Fast, victim of low scoring against a hot junior team the night before, managed 3-counts in the first and 7th ends, but it was not enough. They did not score any more, and they fell 7-6 to second place McInnes Cooper as well as down into 5th place in the Standings (just the top 4 teams make the playoffs). Back to back to back singles by McInnes Cooper tied the score 3-3 after 5 ends. Then they registered a steal of a pair in the 6th end. Fun ‘N’ Fast countered with their second 3-count retaking the lead 6-5. The 8th end saw lots of rocks in the 4-foot circle behind guards. Skip Trent Skanes was able to blast the pack moving all rocks into the 8 and 12-foot circles. Opposing skip, Jeff Thomas, with his last stone, threw a quiet-weight tap-and-roll on the second shot rock in the back half of the house, but it overcurled and missed completely (he would have sat counting six facing at worst an extra end if Skanes made his hammer). Now with hammer Skanes could attempt a hit through a narrow port which he executed perfectly for the victory (guaranteeing McInnes Cooper a playoff berth). Fun ‘N’ Fast at 7-5 is now in 5th place and hoping for a tie-breaker to qualify for the bigger piece ($6,100+) of the RE/MAX SuperLeague cash. The Jeff Thomas led foursome has to win their last round robin game (against a contender) and hope either Therapeutic Services Physiotherapy or the team skipped by Jeff’s Son, Colin, falters in their remaining games.
Stavanger Dental 020 200 x = 4
Shelley Hardy Women’s Team 202 013 x = 8
The score was 4-4 at the half with deuces being posted by the team with hammer in each of the first 4 ends. This trend appeared to continue into the 5th end when skip Shelley Hardy was left with a draw for 2 more, but it was underswept. The women showed no mercy in the 6th end. Stavanger Dental third, James Bryson, had to execute a triple takeout. And when skip, Stephen Trickett, went to throw hammer, he was still facing 4 counters. He chose to rattle his way through two rocks at the top of the 12-foot circle, but his stone hit too little of the first rock and rolled through the house giving up a steal of 3 and an 8-4 lead. That ended up being the final score. The win moved the women out of the cellar.
Stavanger Dental with 6 losses finds themselves with the same playoff hopes as Team Strong; hope for Therapeutic Services Physiotherapy to lose two of their remaining 3 games and that the 3 teams with 5 losses all lose one of their remaining games. (In short, everything has to go right.)
Rick Rowsell Men’s Team 310 202 x = 8
Team Labatt 001 010 x = 2
The biggest score (the 7th of those 3’s) came in the first end. After advantage turned a few times, Team Rowsell was accurate with the last few rocks of thew ewnd and with Rick Rowsell’s hammer. The deficit widened in the 2nd end when Team Labatt skip, Stacie Curtis, had no access to the button with hammer and she gave up a stolen point when a triple takeout attempt for a pair did not move all the yellow ones enough. Curtis made hammer in the 3rd end, a hit against a pair, but the women gave up deuces in thge 4th and 6th ends sandwiched around a single for Team Labatt. That was enough to make the final score 8-2, and enough to keep Team Rowsell comfortably in first place in the Standings; they defeated both 3rd place Colin Thomas Men’s Team and 2nd place McInnes Cooper in their round robin matchups.
STANDINGS / WINNINGS (and W or L streak) after 81 of 91 GAMES:
9 – 2 / $ 1W Rick Rowsell Men’s Team
9 – 3 / $ 4W Trent Skanes (McInnes Cooper)
8 – 3 / $ 1W Colin Thomas Men’s Team
6 – 4 / $ 1L Andrew Symonds (Therapeutic Services Physiotherapy)
7 – 5 / $ 2L Jeff Thomas (Fun ‘N’ Fast)
6 – 5 / $ 1W Paul Harvey (Miller Lite / Platinum Business Solutions)
6 – 5 / $ 1L Adam Boland (Olson Curling Supplies)
6 – 6 / $ 1L Team Strong
5 – 6 / $175 1L Stephen Trickett (Stavanger Dental)
5 – 7 / $175 2W Geoff Cunningham (Team A. Harvey)
4 – 7 / $140 2L Stacie Curtis (Team Labatt)
4 – 9 / $140 1L Andrew Taylor (Carroll Investments)
3 – 9 / $105 1W Shelley Hardy Women’s Team
3 – 10 / $105 1L John Sheppard Men’s Team
81-81 / $8,400 14
