Curling: Week Two

So the first thing that happened tonight was I found out that last week's game counts as a win for us. Even though we lost by one, since they only had two players and I curled for them, it was a forfeit. So our run to the championship is still in play.

This week our opponent was three high school girls...and the club president. Here's how most ends went. The first two girls couldn't get their stones across the hog line. The third girl could but wasn't very accurate. And then the president would come in and thread the needle to the button.

We were red. I was second again.

1st end: Red 4
2nd end: Yellow 1
3rd end: Red 1
4th end: Yellow 1

At this point, the team with the hammer (last stone) had scored every time. In the second end, I played two great shots and we had three or four in scoring position, but the yellow skip's hammer throw was perfect. But after being up 5-1 after three and with the hammer coming again in the 5th, I was thinking blowout. I was hoping that maybe I could skip the last end if it was garbage time.

5th end: Yellow 1

Even though we had the hammer, yellow scored. But we would have the hammer in the 6th. And the 6th is a good one to score in. That gives your opponent the hammer in the 7th, setting you up to have the last stone in the 8th.

6th end: Yellow 1

Crap. After being up 5-1, it was now 5-4. We couldn't lose to high school girls. My shots weren't as good anymore. A few short, a few long.

7th end: Yellow 2

Are you serious? Now we're down 6-5. After the first four ends where the team with the hammer scored every time, yellow had scored three ends in a row when we had the hammer. But we still had it for the 8th. We were down. We needed 1 for a tie, 2 for the win.

8th end: Red 2

Hell yeah. This was serious curling. My first shot (3 of 8 in this end) knocked a yellow out of the house and rolled into the house, behind a guard. It remained one of two red stones in the house at the end. Clutch.

So now the Blazing Brooms are 2-0. There's 5 rounds of league play (10 teams), and then the top two teams are selected to play for the championship, a la the BCS. Last season the two teams selected were 4-0-1 and 4-1.

I don't think we're the best team in the league. But that doesn't matter. We only play 5 of the other 9. If we can catch a few breaks, it's not out of the question.

Of course, it's not all about the championship. I'm playing quite a bit better over the last two games then I did when I subbed. It's a lot of fun.