With Glen Goss throwing the skip rocks for Geoff Cunningham and Team A. Harvey, they were handed a bad omen in the first end against former League Champions makethecall.ca skipped by Colin Thomas. In a raise takeout attempt to score 3, Goss chipped his counter off the button and gave up a single. Thomas proceeded to score the first 5 of the new season in the 3rd end, taking a 6-1 lead, and coasted to an 8-2 victory with all the other points being singles.
Team Stacie Curtis made 4 consecutive points over ends 3 to 5 stand up for a 4-3 victory over Ches’s Fish & Chips (skipped by Greg Blyde). Blyde managed just 3 singles but had momentum entering the final end having stolen the 7th. Two rocks will “haunt” them as Hallowe’en approaches; a free draw for two with hammer in the first end came up light, and Blyde was unable to get enough curl out of his last rock allowing Curtis to register the win without having to throw her hammer in the 8th.
In a well-played game that produced the first extra-end of the new season, Therapeutic Services Physiotherapy (skipped by Andrew Symonds) forced extra time by stealing a single in the 8th end against Team Adam Boland. However the last rock come-around draw by Symonds in the extra end hung out wide and Boland, with hammer, was able to hit what he could see and stay shot rock for a 6-5 victory. These two teams jockeyed for playoff position all season last year, and such is likely to be the case again this year.
The highlight for Team Heather Strong was a hard-fought pair from inturn taps in the 4th end closing the deficit to 5-3. But Team Paul Harvey pulled away with a second pair in the 5th end and a second three-count in the 6th end for a 10-3 victory in the first of two (this season) husband-wife games. The men, with lead Mike Day who won the RE/MAX SuperLeague Round-Robin last season, had superior fine-power over the women who had Mike’s Wife, Sarah, playing second stone.
These teams traded singles and deuces for seven ends and the score was 4-4 going into the 8th. With a lot of traffic in front of the house, Team Kelli Turpin feathered a guard on an inturn tap attempt with their last rock in the final end and Coastal Chiropractic (skipped by Matthew Smith) did not have to throw hammer for the 5-4 victory. The women are the remainder of Team Shelley (Nichols) Hardy from recent seasons, and this saw the return to SuperLeague play (at second stone) of Stephanie Korab, a former Ontario Junior Champion and former NL Women’s Champion.
McInnes Cooper / Power Conditioning Inc. (skipped by Trent Skanes), as on ice #2, also scored 4 consecutive points over ends 3 to 5 to open up a 4-2 lead over youthful Team Nathan Young (first year SuperLeague competitors). The young guys played tough scoring a pair in the 6th end to tie the game 4-4. The veterans (and former SuperLeague Champions) bounced back in the 7th end with a pair of their own which was decisive in a 6-4 win. (Nathan Young caught a bad break in a promising-looking 8th end when his last rock overcurled and removed his own guard; Skanes did not have to throw his hammer.)
Having byes in Draw #1 were Defending Champions Team Mark Noseworthy, Team Rick Rowsell, and Team Greg Smith. Watch this space in future Media Reports for the Round-Robin Standings. There follows a List of the 6 teams with 1-0 records after Draw #1:
makethecall.ca (skipped by Colin Thomas)
Team Stacie Curtis
Team Adam Boland
Team Paul Harvey
Coastal Chiropractic (skipped by Matthew Smith)
McInnes Cooper / Power Conditioning Inc. (skipped by Trent Skanes)
