In the run up to the event we were at the ice rink a lot trying to find some kind of form so we would not embarrass ourselves at the playdowns. On Monday evening, Dave & Scott played against Brian Gray's Latvians at Curl Aberdeen. Thomas Halder and Fraser Kingan stepped in for Billy and the 'Apprentice Joiner of the Year' as he was away getting his awards. We are pleased to announce that John did receive the award for the second year in a row and we are all very proud of him.
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| Copyright of Rory Byers |
The European Playdowns had a brutal schedule. Through the double round robin we had 6 games over the course of 48 hours. We were tied for second on 3-3 with Tom Brewster which meant that we had an extra game to play. We got by Tom in a close game to reach the final against Murdoch.
Between games we found a decent new restaurant next to Sportsters. While we were contemplating what to order, the waitress asked us what we would like to drink.
Billy - Pint of draught coke please
John - Same please
Scott - Pint of water
Dave - Can I please have a glass of sparkling mineral water?
Billy, with an absolutely horrified look of disgust on his face at the drink order that Dave had just placed, instantly questioned the decision he had made about joining our team and was wondering what he had got himself in to.
Billy lost it when Dave then ordered a seafood risotto.
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| Risotto and Mineral Water - Too healthy for Billy. |
It was a best of three final which was turning the weekend into an absolute marathon!
In the first game we got a couple of steals which kept our noses ahead and we took it home in the 10th.
The last two finals were on the Sunday so we had a night to recover before starting all over again.
We fell behind slightly early on but got the steal train running towards the tenth. Murdoch made a relatively simple hit for the win to take it to the third final.
It was an up and down game with a few misses, but that is what happens after 30 hours of curling in 4 days! At points, the game was looking at getting away from us but a 3 in the 8th put us in a good position. Murdoch measured for his second point in the 9th which required us to take a two in the 10th for the win. Dave Edwards had a delicate hack weight hit on a partially visible stone for the game. It didn't curl quite enough and after a lot of sweeping from both John and Greg it was only one and onto the extra. Things were looking OK in the extra with two of our stones biting the top of the 4ft. Murdoch elected to play an inturn draw. He was heavy which left us with a steal of two and the chance to represent Scotland at the European Championships!
Curl Aberdeen posted a video of the last stone.
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| Team Scotland |
Big guns have to put their Euro plans on ice...
Muirhead and Edwards lead Scotland's bid
Eve Muirhead through as David Murdoch bows out
Amateur rink are a stone's throw away from World Championships
We have noticed that a lot of the newspaper and TV stuff has been more focused on Murdoch losing than us winning, but we can live with that!
Dave was interviewed this afternoon at Curl Aberdeen, so he should be on STV news tonight so tune in if you want a more in-depth review than the BBC!
We have selected Tom Brewster as our 5th man and Greig Henderson got the pass from Kate to attend!
We are really looking forward to head out to Champery next month and are trying to get a lot of things organised between now and then!
Cheers
Team Edwards
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Well done guys, you had a good fan club watching the live scoring at Greenacres. Good choice of alternate too ! Good luck, do us proud.
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