Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Tankard thoughts(draw two)

In draw two of the 2016 Saskatchewan Tankard, I will be providing updates for the featured match this evening involving Kerrobert's Brad Heidt and Regina's Randy Bryden. Enjoy

End one

-Bryden lead Trent Knapp places the opening rock of the game top four, Brad elects to hit and it's open season for a classic first end blank.

-Interesting to see Brad himself only throw second stones this season, the confidence level he has in sons Mitch and Drew is apparent with that decision.

-One of those ends that smelt like a blank, looked like a blank, but resulted in a score of one in lieu of Drew Heidt sticking on his last.


End two

-Regis Neumeier with two perfect stones to begin the second whilst T.Knapp put up a workable corner and both skips appear ready to gamble.

-Kelly Knapp attempts a hit and roll on a Heidt stone landing fully in the eight foot, but fails to acquire the role.

-Roll out by Mitch Heidt has increased the chances of a second blank, although a corner does exist on the other side of the house.

-Great cross sheet role attempt by Troy Robinson and now the corner guard is definitely in play.

-Judging by Drew's snarky reaction, some sweeping miscommunication prevented their role attempt and now we'll see Randy try what Drew could not accomplish.

-Count me in as one who thought two experienced skips such as Brad and Randy would've encouraged more rocks in play but as it stands a second consecutive blank is staring us in the face but this time a blank is actually made successfully(forgive me for to quote the great Roger Clemens, "misremembering"that Heidt stole for one in the first)



End three

-Brad Heidt makes a pistol hit and roll to sit two behind in cover. Bryden now the chaser.

-The veteran Heidt drawing upon his experience, once again threw a beautiful hit and roll, rolling off a half tucked Knapp stone behind the guard.

-On Mitch Heidt's first,Heidt elects for the aggressive play ignoring the Bryden half open stone, deciding to draw around and sit two.

-After a Robinson roll-out, the petal to the metal approach continues for the Kerrobert bunch. Making Bryden work to earn their coin.

-Big trouble for Bryden after Robinson attempting a come around, wrecks on the guard. Heidt will look to guard their two shot stones.

-All this complaining of overly conservative play can be thrown out the window, rocks galore here in the third.

-The saving grace for Bryden is that the shot stones of Heidt are behind the tee line thus allowing Randy to tap his rock tight to the four for shot rock.

-Drew Heidt draws in far too deep trying to cut off Bryden's second point, and now Randy has a draw to the four for his second point. This is a classic skip deuce as the Heidt clan was all over Team Bryden before the the team's elder statesmen bailed the crew out. 2-1 Bryden.




End four

-After the lead Knapp undercurled on a draw attempt to the four foot, he more than made up for that with a pristine center guard and it has forced Heidt's to get in the runback/peel mode.

-Brad Heidt, using the same principles as last end, is ignoring the hitting game and on Mitch Heidt's first one,played a back eight tap back to ensure the Bryden rock stay in the rings behind the button. This gameplan is refreshing.

-With Bryden lying three all behind the tee, fourth thrower Drew will look to draw around the center guard and their own red top twelve. Brad was very clear in his thought process that by either fully burying the rock or keeping it half open, the jam presents itself for Randy.

-Drew  goes deep(common theme of the night), thus allowing Randy to draw right to the pin and the Heidt team is in a world of hurt.

-The Bryden draw was evidently too big of a hurdle for Heidt to jump as Bryden stretches his lead to two.

End five

-The prototypical beginning to any curling end, the team without hammer(Bryden) places two rocks on top of one another and Heidt places a corner guard.

-Brad Heidt rolls past the corner allowing Kelly and the Bryden rink to hit and stick and sit two
he;
-At some point the Heidt four has to regain their composure, from my vantage point were outplaying Bryden in the first two ends but have begin to unravel providing a significant edge to the rink from the Callie.

-Heidt with a stone in the eight foot, half wrapped around the center with the Bryden stone back four, some contemplation was given to either throwing a high guard and staggering the red(Heidt) or coming right in. The guard was chosen after much debate.


-After Mitch delivered his stone, the Heidt's now have two promotable stones to access Bryden's back four marker. The more guard attempts now for Randy the hotter the fire he's playing with.

-Brad asking Drew for a  double run off nose to promote the reds in the rings to remove the yellow.

-The double run is made partially but they lose the one red they were hoping to keep around which interestingly enough isn't that good for Heidt as with a simple hit on the open red in the back of the eight foot, the force is in play. Can Drew make  a pressure draw? This remains to be seen as he;s been a little heavy on a few draws tonight.

-The entire way down it appeared to be a routine draw for Drew but an apparent pick slowed down the draw attempt and has led to ANOTHER steal for the Bryden foursome.


End six


-On Trent Knapp's opening stone, a rock originally pegged for the top four slides to the back twelve.

-Now reeling from a three point deficit, Neumeier has thrown up a second corner guard and then is a disastrous turn of events for Bryden, Kelly Knapp's peel attempt goes wayward and bumps the Heidt rock into the rings.

-The last couple of rocks from Heidt have been an effort to protect the rock Knapp chipped in, Robinson by virtue of the end's developments attempts a double run, gets rid of one.

-With Bryden sitting two, one in the top, the other being in the back of the twelve Brad calls for a come around to the four foot, gets a piece of the eight.

-A freeze to the back rock by Heidt is followed by a freeze on top for Bryden. Randy still lying two.

-Bryden just can't be undone! Drew made a quality draw to the back of the four, but Randy was able to come right on top to get this, steal another point. 5-1 Bryden and due to the wide spread score and inevitable string of peels that will precede the Bryden strategy, I'm going to sign off this game but will come back later if I notice the score tightens.




No comments:

Post a Comment