Many congratulations to Dave Anderson’s rink of Pam Ramsay, Alicia Neil and Stuart Blackwood ( substituted last night by Jim Hume) for comprehensively winning the Hurley League Final against Team Hope (Ronnie, Reg Dunbar, Jean Noble and Norrie McLean) .
The match was very tight at the beginning, with each rink scoring only a single for the first 3 ends (2-1 to Team Anderson), but thereafter Team Hope lost a 4 in the 4th, and never really recovered losing two more singles before calling it a day. A good match at the end of a hard season, with Dave’s team definitely the stronger curlers on the night.
Now, there’s only the Closing Bonspiel to look forward to before we put our kit away for another season.
Eight members of PCC gathered on Sunday March 13th (lucky for some!)
First round – Play kicked off on keen, straight ice. Game 1) A strong start from Jim Ramsay saw him overpower David Ballantyne to a clear win after some valiant defensive play (5-1) Game 2) Iain Scott (sub for a COVID impacted David Gillespie) peeled with John Jacobs, but Iain advanced by way of winning an extra draw to the house (5-4) Game 3) Reg Dunbar v Dave Anderson – Close play throughout the match but saw David hold out for victory (4-2) Game 4) Ronnie Hope v Craig Brown – did not go to the form of the ‘book’ being kept upstairs on the balcony, with Ronnie completing the line-up for the High Road Semi-Finals (4-2) and Craig in the Low.
Low Road Unfortunately for David B, he was drawn against a resurgent John J in the first Low Road Semi-Final, with John running out a clear winner (8-0) in 3 ends and moving to the Low Road Final Craig B also made amends taking victory over Reg D (8-3) in the second Semi-Final
Low Road Final was set-up to be repeat of the Second Points show-down between John & Craig; on newly pebbled ice John immediately applied pressure leaving Craig with high tariff recovery shots to try and rescue each end. The match continued in this style with what would become a decisive win for John in 5 ends (7-0)
High Road Semi Final 1; Jim R v Iain S – came down to the last stone from Jim. 3-2 up Jim needed a well-judged back-rink draw to knock back the lying stone from Iain otherwise another peel was in the offing; a well delivered stone sidled past the guard and perfectly chipped the winner, so 4-2 to Jim Semi-Final 2; saw Dave A take all the points against a now fading Ronnie; 4-0 Dave A
High Road Final: Dave A v Jim R, saw Dave made a strong start after an unfortunate error in tactics from Jim, caused by a miscalculation in shots played; 3-0 after one. By the third end Jim was fighting back, but Dave crept away with a combination of steals and ‘ones’ in the 2nd, 4th & 5th ends, two of which were decided on well executed angled raises leaving Jim with simply too much to do in reply; 6-3 going to the last. The final end saw a cagey series of stone to the back of the house, that saw Jim simply run out of stones to close the gap, leaving Dave victorious.
Many congratulations to Dave Anderson on winning the High Road Final and to John Jacobs on winning the Low Road Final. And thanks to Dave for his generosity, as sponsor, at the bar (it’s just a pity we were all driving !!!)
Many congratulations to David Gillespie and his rink of Kirsty McWilliam, Jean Noble and Neil Lackie, who have emerged as clear winners of the Thirds League for season 2021-22.
Another competition has been completed with the final of the Knockout competition on Sunday 27th February, a second curling event that day for Dave Anderson, Craig and Keith who had earlier played in the Second Points. Dave was supported by Margaret Carr, Linda McKay and Alister McDonald, whilst Craig’s team included Keith, Jim Hume and Jan Stuart.
With both teams scoring alternate ends, the match was pretty evenly contested at the start until after 4 ends, the scores were 3-2 in Team Brown’s favour. However, a 4 for Craig at the next end, followed by a single in the 6th, extended his lead and although Team Anderson took another single at the 7th, it was a clear win for Craig.
Many congratulations to Team Brown on their success and commiserations to Team Anderson. Thanks to all who took part.
Friday the 18th of February brought an interesting weather forecast with snow expected for most of the day. Thankfully it didn’t fall heavily and we managed to meet at Murrayfield for the DAFS social match. The Penicuik team consisted of Craig Brown, Kirsty McWilliam, Ian Neil and Neil Lackie.
The first end Penicuik had a fairly open draw into the house to score a 5. The 2nd end didn’t go as well, with some well-placed stones in the house from DAFS and defensive guards. Routes into them throughout the end were limited which resulted in DAFS taking a 4 back. From there the scores were tighter but the experience and strength of the DAFS players showed, and in most ends this left Penicuik trying to raise stones back in for shot, or squeeze through tight ports in order to cut down some of the well built ends to get a score.
It was great for Penicuik to get a team involved that haven’t had as much experience in social matches compared to others in the club. There were excellent stones played from all positions of the team!
The match ended with a 12-6 win for DAFS, and afterwards both teams retired upstairs for a drink and a blether before the traditional thanks for the match.
On Sunday 27th February, 9 very keen curlers took to the ice for the Second Points Competition, and what an exciting one it turned out to be.
Those playing in order were Reg, David Gillespie, Craig, Dave Anderson, Norrie, John, Keith, Roger and myself.
Reg got play off to a good start in the first discipline ‘Striking’, where everyone managed a reasonable score but only two achieved the maximum 8 points – Craig and Jean with her trusty cue. Thereafter, play continued on quite fast and tricky ice through ‘Inwicking’, ‘Drawing’ then ‘Guarding’ with all players picking up points on the way, until at the half way mark John was leading on 20 points with Craig a close second on 19 points. Keith and Dave were not far behind on 16.
After completing ”Chap and Lie’, the ‘Wick and Curl In’ discipline proved to be the most challenging. Norrie managed a creditable 4 points but others scored 1,2 or nothing at all. The bell rang just as the 7th discipline ‘Raising’ was finished, so the decision was taken to continue with the 8th, ‘Chipping the Winner’. At this stage Craig had overtaken John with 30 points against 27. Craig immediately increased the pressure by scoring a further 5 to total 35, leaving John having to make the maximum to tie. Watched by his curling colleagues, John’s competitive spirit went into overdrive and he played 4 fantastic stones to take 8 and equal Craig’s score, thus forcing a play-off.
With the next session due to start, Stuart the iceman kindly gave permission for Craig and John to play the ‘Outwicking’ decider up and down one sheet. Unbelievably, after playing another 4 stones each, both still remained equal after scoring a single each. It was therefore time to ‘Draw the House’ so, with Roger grabbing the measure, the opponents prepared for the final decider.
John was first up but incredibly left his stone short whilst, with tension mounting, Craig’s stone went out the back of the house. However, on the backward ice, both players successfully ‘drew the house’. Roger armed with his trusty measure finally declared John the winner.
What a Competition! It had to be the most exciting Points for a long time. and many congratulations to John and Craig for competing to the very end. Thanks also to everyone else who took part and made it such a fun afternoon.
Final scores.Concentration
Report by Jean Noble – morephotos available in Gallery.
On a cold and blustery evening on 16th February, 8 members from Penicuik and 8 members from Merchiston gathered at Murrayfield to compete in the 2022 edition of the Merchiston Team Points. Unfortunately, before any play could begin, Penicuik had an unavoidable last-minute call-off reducing their ranks to 7 players. Several suggestions for a work-around were made; the one proposed by Merchiston (and arguably the simplest), was to apply a correction for the missing player, ie. divide Penicuik’s score by 7 and multiply by 8 (essentially adding the score of one ‘average’ Penicuik player). With this agreed, the match started…
Immediately, Merchiston took a commanding lead after the opening discipline (Striking) one where Penicuik is historically the stronger team – not tonight! (15 v 24). Over the next four disciplines (Inwicking, Drawing, Guarding, Chap & Lie) scores were close between the teams, seeing Merchiston retaining a 10 point lead (before any correction was applied)
The 6th discipline (Wick-in-and-Curl), was to become a decisive end where the momentum swung; Penicuik scored 9 vs Merchiston’s 1. This saw Penicuik close the ‘un-corrected’ gap to just 2 points; (69 v 71). Then came the close fought run to the finish (Raising, Chip the Winner, Draw thro’ the Port, and Outwicking). In the last two disciplines only one stone was played instead of two as the bell had technically gone.
Scores on the ice (before any correction applied) – Penicuik 105 v Merchiston 104. With post-match correction, Penicuik received another 15 points so Penicuik 120 v Merchiston 104
As ever the match, whilst competitive, was played in good spirits with every good shot being applauded by both sides.
After the match, both teams retired to the Club Rooms where Chris Morrison of Merchiston gave a brief history of why we compete in this fixture, thanked everyone for giving it their all, and congratulated Penicuik for their latest win! Iain Scott received the trophy, thanking Merchiston for their spirited efforts, thanked Penicuik for delivering another win and we all look forward to competing again in 2023.
Top scorers on the night – Craig Brown (25), Iain Scott (20) & Ronnie Hope (17) for Penicuik, and Dave Cunningham (17), Mike Smith (16) and Archie Smith & Chris Morrison (15) for Merchiston.
Line graph denotes cumulative scoreIain receiving the Merchiston Team Points Trophy
The 2nd Club Challenge took place on Saturday 12th February at 2.30pm. The team of Jim Ramsay, Dave Carr, Norrie McLean and Reg Dunbar had challenged the present trophy holders team of Keith Morris, Roger Scott, Martin Hobbs and David Gillespie.
The ice was very slow and straight in the 1st end which caught out a few players with not many stones reaching the front of the house. Keith’s team managed to score a 2 at the 1st end, however Jim came right back to take 2 shots in the 2nd. The ice quickly changed as the game progressed, becoming slick and fast with good draws at controlled weight.
Keith’s team then went on to play some good shots throughout the game, controlling the front of the house after getting the measure of the ice. Jim’s team struggled with the weight leaving him with some very difficult shots to play. All credit to Jim for trying to recruit a good balance of players for the challenge.
Team Morris all played well on the day and retain the trophy with a score of 8-2 (6 -1 in ends), and now look forward to future challenges next season.
The evening of 11th February saw 2 teams from Penicuik playing against 2 teams from New Stones in a fun filled and good-natured social match.
Penicuik’s first team was skipped by Barbara, with Les, Alicia and David G supporting, whilst Kirsty skipped the second team of Jim Hume, David B and Jean. Four of our newest members, Jean and Graeme Cassie, Louise and Paul Clapperton played for New Stones along with Alan and Susan Gill, Saho Arakawa and Nicki Cassie.
Penicuik’s rinks swapped ice half way, and although scores for each end didn’t really matter at the end of the day, teams did make a half-hearted attempt at keeping the cards updated. It’s fair to say that New Stones were understandably outplayed although there were some great shots from both sides, maybe a few wilder ones, but we all managed to come off the ice unscathed after a fun night’s curling.
As is customary, we retired upstairs to continue the socialising over a drink and chat. Hopefully, we have achieved our aim, made some new friends, and shown New Stones players what a friendly club we are, in the hope that those who haven’t already done so may seriously consider joining Penicuik in the future.
Penicuik Curling Club 