Author Archives: captainken45

First Points 2018-19

The first half of our domestic programme concluded with the First Points Competition on Wednesday evening (12 Dec).  Nine members contested for the medal and the opportunity to test their skills against the current ice.  In starting order of play the participants were Dave Anderson, John Jacobs, Ronnie Hope, Jim Cowper, Jim Ramsay, Craig Brown, Ken Hunter, Alex Moir, and Keith Morris.

The ice was somewhat challenging, but that may just be because it was different to our past experience.   At the close of play Keith Morris emerged as the winner on 33 points, with Ken Hunter in second place (30 pts), and Jim Ramsay in  third place (29 pts).  Congratulations to Keith on his win.  It was an enjoyable evening, and it was good to have the opportunity to try Points on the new ice pad as we will face our “old enemy” Merchiston in a Team Points Match in January.

As to the details of the event, 4 members managed to score at all eight of the disciples played, these were Dave Anderson, Jim Ramsay, Craig Brown, and Keith Morris.  The other 5 members all had one disciple with a zero score (mostly at Wick and Curl In).  The top scorers in each discipline were as follows;

Striking                           Ken Hunter (8)

Inwicking                        Ronnie Hope (7)

Drawing                          Craig Brown (6)

Guarding                       Ken Hunter & Keith Morris (5)

Chap & Lie                     Craig Brown (4)

Wick & Curl In                Jim Ramsay (5)

Raising                            Ronnie Hope (4)

Chipping the Winner    Ken Hunter (6)

Points is a great way to learn and to gain more experience about how to play the ice we have.  The Second Points Competition is on Tuesday 19 February, and the Intermediate Points Competition is on Wednesday 27 February.  

Singles 2018-19

Eight members had an enjoyable evening battling to win the High Road or even the Low Road.  In the preliminary skirmishes, Anderson, Brown, Ramsay, and Hunter overcame their respective opponents to go forward to the High Road. 

In the Low Road semi-finals, Lambie beat Hope, and Moir beat Jacobs; so Andrew met Alex in the final.  Alex had played very well in the earlier rounds but Andrew’s experience kept him in the lead in this last game.  Congratulations to Andrew on winning the Low Road.

In the High Road semi-finals, Brown beat Anderson, and Hunter beat Ramsay; so Craig met Ken in the final. Craig took a single in the first end (of six) and Ken countered with a three in the second end.  Craig took another single in the third end, and Ken replied with a single in the fourth.  Neither player particularly shone in the fifth end, but Craig manged a single with the final shot of the end.  In the final end two silent strikes from Ken with his last two stones left Craig with a two to take the medal 5-4.  Congratulations to Craig on his win, he played well throughout the competition.

Finally, special thanks to Jim Ramsay for coming in at the very last minute to ensure that we had a full entry on the night.

Rink Championship

Penicuik met Midcalder in the first round of the competition on Sunday afternoon (9 Dec).  The Penicuik team was skipped by Andrew Lambie, with Dave Anderson, Jim Ramsay, and Ken Hunter at Lead (an eleventh hour Sub for an unwell Dave Carr).

Midcalder applied considerable pressure in the opening two ends and only well judged final shots by our Skip held them to singles.  Penicuik rallied in the third end to take a two, then  Midcalder worked a single in the four end to go 3-2 up.  Penicuik tied the game with a single at the fifth, and went on to steal a two at the sixth, followed by a single at the seventh to end up winners 6-3.

A good game for us, played in the appropriate spirit by both sides.  Penicuik will meet Corstorphine in the next round on Sunday 6 January (12.00pm).

Final of the Knock-out Competition

Team Ramsay (flying under the Dunbar flag) met Team Scott in the final of this season’s competition. Team Ramsay got off to a good start with a two then a steal of four.  In the third end, Roger Scott moved two opposition counters from the centre of the house to the back of the four foot and Iain was subsequently able to get a draw in to them to take a single.  Team Scott remained up against it  with Jim’s team rarely putting a foot wrong. In the sixth end, Iain  Scott managed to convert a position of 3-down to one of 3-up with his last stone to make it 10-4 to Team Ramsay and conceded the game.

Congratulations to the winning team, Jim Ramsay, Robert Beaton, Martin Hobbs, and Les Dalgleish.  Commiserations to Iain Scott and his team of Roger Scott, Pam Ramsay and Vic Ramage.

Knock-out Semi-finals

The two semi-finals of this seasons’s competition were played out last night (12 Nov).  In the first games Team Carr met Team Dunbar, both without the named skips. In a fairly tight game Jim Ramsay led Team Dunbar to a narrow win (5-4, without the 2 shot penalty deduction) over their 3-man opponents led by Keith Morris.  Teams Jacobs and Scott had a extremely close dual, with Scott leading at the beginning only to be overtaken by Jacobs as the game progressed.  At the end the game went to Team Scott (5-4) with two notable final shots by their skip in the last two ends.

Team Dunbar will meet Team Scott in the final on Monday 3 December.

Close Encounter in the Swan

Penicuik met Currie & Balerno in the first round of the Swan Trophy yesterday afternoon (8 Nov); the Swan is a double rink knock-out competition.  The Penicuik teams were  (a) Dave Anderson, Jim Ramsay, Dave Carr, and Reg Dunbar, and (b) Andrew Lambie, Ken Hunter, Ronnie Hope, and John Glidden.  Team (a) had a very tight game and Dave Anderson was successful with his final shot of the match to take a single to peel the game at 5-5 (5 ends to Penicuik).  Team (b) had a more up and down game, going behind after leading by three shots however, two fine draws by Andrew Lambie in the last end resulted in a second peeled game 8-8 (5 ends to Penicuik).  So remarkably a draw across the match, and on to the sudden death of drawing the house.  Simon Fleming of Currie & Balerno went first and ended up in the eight foot circle, and, perhaps with over enthusiastic sweeping, Dave Anderson’s stone finished up just through the house.

Knock-out First Round

Last night (5 Nov), four teams contested for places in the semi-finals.  Team Lambie met Team Scott, and after a fairly tight game Iain Scott’s rink emerged as winners (8-5).  In the second game, Team Anderson (skipped on the night by Murray Hope) took on Team Jacobs.  After sharing singles at the first two ends, John Jacobs’ rink went on to a comfortable win (12-1).

The semi-finals are on Monday 12 November, with Teams Carr and Dunbar joining the battle for places in the final. 

King George IV Trophy 2018-19

Penicuik played in the first round of this competition on Friday evening (26 Oct).  Our rink of Ken Hunter, Robert Beaton, Liz Anderson, and Ronnie Hope faced a ‘battle hardened’  Stewart Melville FP rink captained by Vicki Gumley.

Penicuik stole a single in the first end based on a super draw round front stones to the heart of the four foot by Robert.  Another steal in the second came after our opponents failed to counter a tap-back near the centre from Ken.  Stewart Mel responded in the third end with two early stones to the four foot which we were unable to successfully attack.  In the fourth end, our team countered each stone that the opposition put up and prior to the last two stones we lay with a stone on either side in the outer circle.  Ken drew to the back of the four-foot , Vicki attempted a freeze but ended up off the centre line but counting. Three quarters of her stone was visible from the hack, so Ken opted for a half weight strike; powerful sweeping from Liz and Ronnie  got the running stone just by a stone lying at the front of the house to give us a four.  Onto the fifth end, where we started with a stone in the four foot which Stewart Mel drew to covering the pot lid.  We froze on that, but our opponents managed to move it and get a second shot in and then played in a third stone that  just short of it.  We guarded to counter the risk of losing our back stone to no avail, Vicki played a perfect long raise on our guard to hit their third stone moving our counter enough to get a three.  We got the better of things at the sixth end, and when a strike by Vicki’ s last stone caught a front stone, Ken was able to draw for a fourth shot.  Everything looked OK in the last end but, probably a combination of poor decision making on our part and several excellent shots by our opponents, resulted in a loss of five shots.  The game being drawn at ten all, Penicuik progressed by virtue of winning more ends.

The second round game is at 6.00pm on Friday 30 November against Holyrood.

Hurley Conclusion

The winners and runners-up from the two sections met in the semi-finals on Monday evening (8 Oct).  In the first game Team Jacobs had a narrow win (6-5) over Team Hope to reach the final.  In the second game Hunter & Co (aka Team Lambie) were fortunate to  gain a win (10-8) over Team Dunbar, having trailed for much of the game.

In the final on Thursday evening, Hunter & Co took a single in the first end against the hammer, with John J making a fine last shot to reduce the damage from two.  A poor first shot in the second end by Hunter gave John J an opportunity to remove the opposition counter which he did, and subsequently went on to get a four.  The response from Hunter & Co in the third end was immediate, taking back a four with four shots to the four-foot.  The fourth end was pivotal, John J was left facing five stones spread around the front half of the house; he opted for a back ring weighted inwick but just missed his target stone and ran out.  Hunter & Co applied significant pressure in the fifth end, but John J was able to take a single with a fine angled raise to the four-foot.  On to the sixth end, Hunter & Co played conservatively, not pressing too hard when lying with 3 second counting shots.  On to the final end; Jim Hume started things well for Team Jacobs lying with two touching stones in front of the four-foot.  Jean Noble played a nice tap back on these stones moving both of them to the outer circle at the back on either side of the house.  Shots were exchanged but Hunter & Co managed to keep a counter fairly central in the house.  John J converted this into a final position where he was lying two at the back of the four-foot; Hunter played a draw to these stones to take the game (11-6).

Congratulations to Ken, Craig Brown, Carol Fleming (Subbed on the night by Alex Moir), and Jean Noble.  Commiserations to Team Jacobs who had a good competition, playing well as a unit throughout.  They were also the only team that played all of their games without a substitute!