Ralph Stoffers and I were at Woodstock last weekend playing with Stan Zuly of Port Hope in the Ontario Novices Championships. This was Ralph's last year as a novice and we had high hopes of success to end his novice period, especially as we had done well at the Seniors Championships - but it was not to be.
On the first day it was round robin play with four groups of four and the top two in each group would advance to the second day which would be knockout. We got off to a great start in the first game and bowled really well. The only problem in this game was heavy rain to the extent that we had to clear the greens and there was a significant delay. Even after the restart the rain continued to fall and there was a further delay before we closed off the game with a six to finish off the opposition 16-5.
In or second game we played district 1 who had lost their first game 5-16. We opened with a winning end but did not play well and in the last end we were one down but Ralph made an excellent draw to tie the game. He also came close to winning it for us with his final shot in the extra end but was just a couple of inches away so we lost and were 1 and 1 and would have to play District 16 in our final game and they had already won two games.
We started badly and were soon down 1-9. That meant we were keeping a close eye on the other game in the group because depending upon results there we might get into a play off even if we lost. The results did fall our way as that game closed out early and we knew that even if we lost that meant we would get into a play off for second place. However we also knew that if we managed to win our game we would definitely be into the last eight.
Gradually we clawed our way back. And with a two in the 13th end we took a one point lead. In the final end the opposition skip played an excellent runner to take out our shot and they were sitting four. With his last shot Ralph promoted one of our bowls to sit shot and the opposition skip just missed his final shot so we closed out the game 12-10 and in fact that win meant we finished top of our group going into the quarter finals.
We did not play a good game in the quarter final match. We started slowly but from 3-4 down we scored a five to go 8-4 up. At that stage we should have put the pressure on and killed the game but poor play allowed them back into the game and they moved to a lead of 11-8. We fought back and going into the 14th and last end it was all tied up at 12-12. The opposition managed to get shot bowl but despite Ralph's best efforts he could not move their bowl or promote ours. It was a measure by the umpires to decide shot but we lost it. A very disappointing finish, more so because we did not play to our full potential.
On the first day it was round robin play with four groups of four and the top two in each group would advance to the second day which would be knockout. We got off to a great start in the first game and bowled really well. The only problem in this game was heavy rain to the extent that we had to clear the greens and there was a significant delay. Even after the restart the rain continued to fall and there was a further delay before we closed off the game with a six to finish off the opposition 16-5.
In or second game we played district 1 who had lost their first game 5-16. We opened with a winning end but did not play well and in the last end we were one down but Ralph made an excellent draw to tie the game. He also came close to winning it for us with his final shot in the extra end but was just a couple of inches away so we lost and were 1 and 1 and would have to play District 16 in our final game and they had already won two games.
We started badly and were soon down 1-9. That meant we were keeping a close eye on the other game in the group because depending upon results there we might get into a play off even if we lost. The results did fall our way as that game closed out early and we knew that even if we lost that meant we would get into a play off for second place. However we also knew that if we managed to win our game we would definitely be into the last eight.
Gradually we clawed our way back. And with a two in the 13th end we took a one point lead. In the final end the opposition skip played an excellent runner to take out our shot and they were sitting four. With his last shot Ralph promoted one of our bowls to sit shot and the opposition skip just missed his final shot so we closed out the game 12-10 and in fact that win meant we finished top of our group going into the quarter finals.
We did not play a good game in the quarter final match. We started slowly but from 3-4 down we scored a five to go 8-4 up. At that stage we should have put the pressure on and killed the game but poor play allowed them back into the game and they moved to a lead of 11-8. We fought back and going into the 14th and last end it was all tied up at 12-12. The opposition managed to get shot bowl but despite Ralph's best efforts he could not move their bowl or promote ours. It was a measure by the umpires to decide shot but we lost it. A very disappointing finish, more so because we did not play to our full potential.