Thirds League
This was the first of the Thirds’ League games for Teams B and D, represented respectively by Rob Garner and John Waterlow, who as team mates for their daytime VETS curling on Thursdays, were unaccustomed to finding themselves adversaries for this Holyrood league within a league. Over three crucial games through December, Holyrood’s thirds move up to skip to fight it out for the honour of promotion to full time skip next season.
So with these two presumptive skips already familiar with their opposite numbers strengths and weaknesses, a close and hard-fought game was in prospect – and so it turned out to be. The final result was six points to four in favour of Team Waterlow but on ends it was even-stevens with three each.
At the start the ice was sticky and for the first couple of ends there was a tendency for stones to build up in front of the house. Nonetheless, the game started well for Team Garner who took the first end by a single point with a fine tap-up from their skip into an unassailable position in the house.
But then Team B countered with a win in the second for two points. As the third end developed, Team Waterlow were feeling confident as a wall was building to protect their stone lying near the centre spot – there was only the narrowest of slots for skip Garner to gain access. Surely another point was in the bag? But no, an inspired Rob sent a fine shot whistling through the gap, knocking out their opponents’ stone and leaving them two stones up. The advantage was back with Team Garner.
The next end was perhaps the turning point of the game. With the ice now much freer, Team Waterlow’s front two were putting vital stones in the house while third Kay’s key strength of the night was setting up some excellent guards. Despite Team Garner’s best efforts, there was little they could do and it was three points to Team Waterlow.
The momentum carried through to the fifth end with Team Waterlow sneaking another point .
The final end provided some consolation for Team Garner, although not enough to reclaim the match. Seeing Skip Rob thread a stone through another narrow slot into the house to gain the upper hand, John thought it was just a simple matter of following in Garner’s tracks. His stone set off and the line looked good – but then the curl increased and despite the best efforts of the sweepers and a lot of hollering from the skip, it grazed another stone and the last end went to Team Garner.
Holyrood Curling Club 