Alberta took first place after round robin play on the strength of a tournament best score in the team "draw to the button" test in Draw 3. Their overall mark of 5-2 was tied with Great Britain and Canada II and they will play host team Richmond in tomorrow's semi-final.
Team Won Lost Button Distance
1 Alberta 4 2 Win 143"
2 GB 4 2 Win 230"
3 Canada II 5 1 Loss 283"
4 Richmond 4 2 Loss 291"
5 Canada I 2 4 Win 156"
6 Manitoba 2 4 Win 262"
7 Victoria 2 4 Loss 213"
8 Scotland 1 5 Loss 279"
Jim Armstrong chalked up another two wins but because his team's "draw to the button" skills test in Draw 3 was played head to head, their dismal seventh best scoring counted as a loss to Manitoba. Michael McCreadie's Great Britain squad showed some signs of life after struggling for much of the season, and will face Armstrong in tomorrow's semi-final.
Gerry Austgarden's Canada 1 team redeemed themselves with two wins, though it took an extra end for them to put away Manitoba.
Draw 6 - morning
Victoria 0-13 (5 ends) Canada II (Armstrong)
Scotland 4-8 Canada 1 (Austgarden)
Manitoba 9-6 Great Britain
Richmond 8-7 Alberta
Draw 7 - afternoon
Manitoba 7-9 (extra) Canada 1 (Austgarden)
Richmond 6-10 Canada II (Armstrong)
Victoria 0-7 (6 ends) Great Britain
Scotland 4-9 Alberta
7 comments:
Who dreams up this "draw to the button" crap to establish a full win or loss. Only in wheelchair curling, and it should be stopped.
And Team Canada is.............
Armstrong has his only loss against GB...not happening again......
Prediction:
Armstrong to win comfortably in the semi, and a blow-out in the final.
Very interesting.....I see no comments after the round roin results of the Richmond Spiel.....where are all the self anointed wheelcahir curling experts....Jim Armstrong was a fine able bodied curler and is a fine wheelchair curler but he is just like the rest of us....a human being....he is not a machine and from time to time he and his team will have bad games and/or weekends....just look at the Scottish teams....last weekend in Utica they couldn't buy a shot and it seems that one of them has recovered nicely.....that is curling and the sooner some of the so called experts realize this...the more balanced the blog comments will be.....it seems to me that the results of the round robin in the Richmond spiel and the Utica spiel put a whole new perspective on the overall state (skill level) of wheelchair curling in Canada not only at the national program level but at the provincial and club level....
Lets Rock 'n Roll
Bruce Cameron
I agree that a draw to the button is no substitute for a game, but the alternative of an unbalanced schedule is no fairer.
Pity Victoria. They took a loss even though they had the 3rd best "button" score. At least the Armstrong team's effort was worthy of their result.
Even more unfortunate was the situation Japan found themselves in at the 2008 Worlds, where a pre-tournament draw to the button saw them relegated and forced to travel back to Europe in November for an unsuccessful attempt to re-qualify. They had a 3-6 record that they shared with Scotland, Russia and Switzerland and lost out by millimetres, denied a full-game tie-break even though there was space for one in the schedule.
As the sport matures and organizers gain more experience, hopefully these correctable inequities will be addressed.
This has been a great bonspiel and the organizers are commended for inviting the other teams.
This will help increase the publicity for the sport. Every team should contact their papers back home.
Of course I am partial to the Alberta team. Keep hiting those cups guys. Proud of you all.
Let's not forget that the best Skip in the world can only win with a solid team effort. All the strategy in the world means nothing unless your players make the shots. Kudos to every player on every team
Have a great playoff.
Ernie Comerford
Coach, London
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