Sunday 16 January 2011

Last word from the Skip.

For Team King today was not only the last day of the Scottish but also the last day of Team King in Junior competition.  Sadly, this is the end of Team King as we know it as I (Helen) am now too old for the juniors. 

I have had a really great time this season and I couldn't have hoped to have shared it with a better team.  So, Hazel, Eilidh and Sarah, thank you and I love you lots :) You have been an amazing team and even greater friends and I have the feeling this may not truly be the end of Team King.  I am going to miss playing with you but I'm really proud to have been your Skip.  

Fiona, thank you for agreeing to be our coach.  The help you gave us both last year and this year in Aberdeen was greatly appreciated and we couldn't have done it without you :)

Thanks to our sponsor Robert Wiseman Dairies and to all our family and friends for their support.

I already feel a bit lost knowing that my junior curling time is over.  Hopefully I will find a way onto the Ladies circuit next year and continue curling, time will tell. 

So, perhaps for the last time, that's all from me,

The Skip, Team King xoxo

Sportsmanship Award

 It may indeed have reached that point where our skip is now too old to compete in the juniors next season. However, she left Aberdeen a deserved winner (although I may just be biased) of the womens Sportsmanship award. 






Hazel, Sarah and myself would like to thank Helen for skipping our team to third spot again this year and wish her every success in the ladies in the years to come, maybe even the seniors if she gets there!


Team King's Lead!
xoxo

Final Day at the Scottish.

On the final day of competition at Aberdeen we were still playing, goal one reached.

We had to play Hannah Fleming in the semi-final this morning.  The winners would face Eve Muirhead's rink in the final.  Two blank ends was a good start to the game.  However the deciding end came early in the 3rd.  Two loose shots allowed Hannah to take a three and we never recovered.  It was a sore way to go out, we had been hoping to go one better than last season and make the final. However, it wasn't to be.




We had a good week overall and, although disappointed, we are proud of our achievements overall this season. 

Congratulations to Eve Muirhead, Anna Sloan, Vicki Adams and Rhiann Macleod, who won the final and will represent Scotland at the World Junior Championships in Perth.
In the Boy's competition John Penny and his rink of Colin Dick, Colin Howden and Billy Morton beat Ally Fraser's rink in the final.  Congratulations to them and good luck to both teams. 

Team King xoxo

Saturday 15 January 2011

Saturday in Aberdeen.

We had our last round-robin game this morning in Aberdeen.  We met Eve Muirhead's rink, who were two clear at the top of the standings.  It was a close game for the first half, we had some good chances and played well.  The second half didn't quite go our way, Eve managed to get ahead and we struggled to come back.  It finished up 7-4.

Elsewhere, Hannah Fleming secured her place in the semi-final with a win over the Baird rink.  That result also meant that we avoided a tie-break situation and are in the semi-final against Fleming at 10am tomorrow. 

Fingers crossed,

Team King xoxo

Friday 14 January 2011

Friday at the Scottish.

On the third day of the round robin at Aberdeen we played defending champion Lauren Gray in the first game.  It was another close one, we were one down with the hammer going into the last end.  It came down to our last stone, we played a controlled hit round a guard to take the two we needed to win. 

In the second game we met the Louise Mansion rink.  Louise skips the rink while Katie Murray plays the last stones.  It wasn't our best game to say the least.  We gave away a big lead but fortunately we took a four in the 9th end to go 11-6 up.  The Mansion rink ran out of stones in the last end and we took our win.  



We have the Muirhead team to play at 9am tomorrow in our last round robin game.  

Night, 

Team King xoxo 

Thursday 13 January 2011

Day two at Aberdeen.

Our second day at Aberdeen didn't start off well for us.  We faced the Baird rink in our first game and we never really got going.  Things just didn't go our way and we were easily beaten in the end. 



Next up, we met Gina Aitken's rink.  It was all or nothing for us in this game.  It's fair to say that this was a very close game.  It was peels after 8 ends.  We took a one in the 9th to go one up without in the last end.  We drew the top of the four foot with our last to lie shot but a good last stone from Gina chipped our stone out and they took the one they needed to force an extra end. 
So, once again we found ourselves playing an 11th end, but this time we had the hammer.
A good hit through a port with our second last shot left us lying three.  Gina elected to draw but caught a guard and we managed to secure a hard-fought win. 

After four games, the Muirhead rink are clear by two, followed by Hannah Fleming who has a game in hand.  Then there are four teams on 2 wins from four, including us. 

We play Lauren Gray and Louise Mansion tomorrow, every game counts now.

That's all,

Team King xoxo

Wednesday 12 January 2011

Game two at Aberdeen.

In our second round robin game we faced Hannah Fleming's rink.  It was definitely one of our more interesting games! It started with 3 blank ends, then we stole a one in the fourth, followed by two more blanks ends.  Hannah took a two in the seventh end and we got the hammer for the first time. We built up a good end and managed to take a four.  5-2 up things were looking good. Unfortunately, things went wrong in the ninth end, we struggled to keep things clear and Hannah capitalised to take back a four.  In the tenth end it came down to the last stone, a tap-back round a guard gave us the one we needed to go to an extra end.  So after ten ends it was back to square one.  
We had to steal a one in the extra.  A freeze with our last stone would have forced a four-foot draw from Hannah but we had an unfortunate pick-up which handed the Fleming rink the win.  

One win, one loss for our first day. We play the Baird rink at 9am tomorrow. 

Night, 
Team King xoxo

And so it begins ...

We were on ice at 10am today to face Jen Paul's rink in the first round robin game.  We got off to a slow start but came onto our game in the second half and finished up winning 11-6.  Good start :)

Elsewhere, Eve Muirhead had a comfortable 8-2 win over the Baird team.  Lauren Gray and Gina Aitken had a close game with Gina coming through to win 8-6. 
The Mansion vs Fleming game was a bit more complicated.  Mansion had a 7-4 lead going into the final end and looked to be on course for a good win.  Unfortunately, the Mansion rink were short of time.  It was going to be hard for Hannah to win the game in the final end. Nevertheless,  according to the rules if a team runs out of time they must forfeit the game.  There was a lot of 'HooHaa' after the game concerning the correct outcome of the game and therefore, the game is void and the two teams will replay the game on Saturday.

An interesting start to the competition.

We play Fleming in our next game at 5pm. 

Team King xoxo  

Monday 10 January 2011

Raring to go!

Happy New Year!

Things have been quiet recently but we have been working away in preparation for the Scottish Junior finals in Aberdeen this week. We are excited for our trip to Aberdeen, for one team member it is their first experience of Junior finals and for another her last.
We put in a good performance in Aberdeen last year and have shown consistency throughout this season, so we are hopeful of providing another strong display this year.
All the training, planning and packing is just about over.  We leave for Aberdeen tomorrow with our first game at 10am on Wednesday.  As usual we will do our best to keep the blog up to date. Results and information should also be available from both the RCCC website and Skip Cottage Curling

Fingers crossed!
Team King x