It went down to the last stone.

‘Match Twelve of 15 in the Main League for Deemo!’

The rinks assembled in the bar area but some well-kent faces were notably absent and on arrival of ‘Tides out’ there was mild panic as his rink looked to be one man down. The ‘Young Yin’ just happened to be loitering in the bar having just completed a game in the preceding session (if I remember correctly) and was promptly seconded to make up the rink. Both rinks now had a full complement of players made up thus:

Rink ‘Tides Out’ comprised the man himself with ‘The Scalpel’ at third, ‘The Young Yin’ at two with ‘Flour Power’ playing lead.

Rink ‘Deemo’ comprised ‘he himself’ with ‘Super Lube’ at third, ‘Special K’ subbing for ‘Sweet Chariot ’ at second, and with ‘Snudge’ performing his normal heroics at lead.

The first end concluded with ‘Deemo’ scoring a single shot that calmed the nerves and assured that ‘the Granny’ was going to be avoided no matter what was to follow. The second end saw ‘Deemo’ score a four which was totally out of character but gave a little ‘breathing space’ in the continuing struggle. A single at the third end for ‘Deemo’ kept up the positive mood – for the time being. Where were rink ‘Tides Out’ in all of this? – they felt as if all luck had deserted them with all the calls going rink ‘Deemo’s’ way.

The fourth end saw a change in fortunes with ‘Tides Out’ regaining their mojo and scoring a three: ‘Game On’. End five saw a complete change in fortunes with rink ‘Tides Out’ scoring a four to take the lead for the first time at seven shots to six!!! Yikes, ‘Deemo’ felt like the proverbial rabbit in the head lights with shots coming up short and skip shots making no impact on the game.

The sixth end saw a break in proceedings with rink ‘Deemo’ grabbing a single shot when there had been potential for a score of four or five – skip rocks not coming good at a critical point again. With ‘Tides Out’ regaining the hammer for what looked very much like the last end the feeling in rink ‘Deemo’ was one of resignation but they had to give it a go.

The seventh end was progressing in ‘Deemo’s’ favour with his second last shot taking out an opposing stone to lie shot but partly hidden behind a collection of stones at the front of the house. With the line to the shot rock established it was up to ‘Tides Out’ to replicate the shot but he only caught a thin edge of shot rock and pushed it further behind cover. ‘Deemo’ then tried to play a guard shot on the other side of the head to block a potential draw from that side but his shot came up woefully short. It was all down to ‘Tides out’ last stone and he decided to try and replicate his first shot with a draw to the button.

Rink ‘Deemo’ collectively stood behind the head holding their breath as the stone was played – it looked to be on line and good weight but it just managed to miss the draw and slid to the back of the house and out of contention – rink ‘Deemo’ took a single shot to win the game 8 shots to 7. PHEW!

A good game but a nerve jangler for rink ‘Deemo’ who still strive to win the league this season but with no room for errors at this stage. Meanwhile rink ‘Tides Out’ is trying desperately to make up ground on the points front to avoid a possible relegation situation. It is by no means a done deal for any of the four rinks with everything still to play for.

Onwards and upwards was the cry from all as we enjoyed our after game refreshment whilst contemplating our next matches.

Bye for now.

Deemo.

The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (my title – JW)

We all forewent Valentines Day treats for another Friday evening fixture.  Super-sub Bob was playing for Team B (his third game of the day having had a VETS Friday game and a British Heart Foundation Bonspiel earlier – Ken too had been involved in the same games so also merits a mention in dispatches). Bob won them the toss, so team D chose yellow stones and kicked off.  A cagey, range-finding first end produced a one for team B.

In the second end, Dave was finding particularly good lengths with his opening yellows, and as some guards developed, they were in good positions.  Having the hammer, Rob ended up drawing in his last stone to register a four.

Team B then found some nice lines, despite the ice playing quite unpredictably, and scoring two kept the game tight.

The next end was played back towards the pavilion, and a good number of early stones lay in the house.  By the last stone the yellows were lying two, but there was a narrow channel to the best blue stone near the back, and Rob threaded his last shot through to take it out and lie, creating a score of 5.

The ice was still quite variable, with stones tending to come up short, creating a lot of guard stones to navigate. Team D were all playing well to score singles in the last two ends, but it was that couple of big ends that made the difference.

Rob.