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.

For this C v D match, both teams had their full complement with no subs needed, and C (playing blue) won the toss.  That was useful, as in the first end they were lying four against by Deemo’s last stone, but he produced a classic skip’s draw to end with a one.

The second end developed a spread of five yellow counters in the house, but this time Deemo’s last stone unluckily found an improbable gap to slide through and out, so Rob was able to run in the final stone for a handy six.

The play continued at a good level, with all players producing nice shots, leading to tight single scores.  Then in the 5th, yellow tucked a counter behind two blues on the left. After it had survived two take-out attempts, I asked for a distraction on the right, and Ken drew nicely round a short guard to the 4ft there; and then produced a dreaded ‘same again’ shot to freeze another against it.  My attempt to guard them ran on and nestled against them, so forming a tight threesome.  Deemo was able to chip one away, but the two on the right and one on the left counted in the end.

The last two ends then produced singles with the hammer, so handshakes were at 10-4.

(Then about a 15-minute queue at the bar..)

Rob.