Wednesday Afternoon Men's Draw: Morris v. Martin

I gather I will not be live-blogging this evening's women's draw because TSN is showing hockey instead of curling; the curling will be shown on tape delay at 10:30 pm EST or so. 8-(

This afternoon's feature match is one of the many battles of Alberta: John Morris (5 - 1) versus Kevin Martin (4 - 2). There are three rinks from Alberta, plus Ryan, who has also curled in Alberta in the past. In all, five of the ten rinks are from Alberta and BC.

End #1: Walchuk, Martin's 3rd, had a slight miss on a raise take-out attempt, leaving come-arounds for Morris. Martin had to try a thin double, which he made, forcing Morris to blank the end.

End #2: Blanked again! What's with these guys? I know they like to play up-weight, but their strategies seem very defensive so far. I thought the 4-rock free-guard rule was supposed to generate more scoring....

End #3: Interesting observation by Linda Moore: Morris knows Walchuk's and Martin's skills, and is trying not to leave run-back shots. Walchuk's draw around the guard coasted too deep, followed by a beautiful draw to the button by Koe (Morris's 3rd). Linda and Ray seemed to imply that Morris made a strategic error by guarding that rock; Martin put up another guard, leaving Morris with a draw to the 4' for two -- didn't quite curl enough, so Morris scored only 1.

Morris 1, Martin 0

End #4: An intriguing backup curl by Walchuk set the scene for a beautiful near-freeze by Morris, forcing Martin to take 1.

Morris 1, Martin 1

End #5: Two other observations:

1. How many of us thought the Ryan rink would be this good? Even though they aren't leading the round robin at this point, they sure look good.
2. The Ferbey rink looks worse than unlucky. Despite all their work, they just seem off.

A great run-back triple by Kennedy (Morris's 2nd) left Walchuk a double, which in turn set up a raise take-out by Koe. Martin doubled (barely) to clear the rings. Morris drew around the guard, leaving Martin undecided as to whether to try a raise double or a come around draw. He tried the raise, but left one in the rings, so Morris had an open draw for two.

Morris 3, Martin 1

End #6: Morris filled the house with yellow stones, but Koe mistakenly cleared them all out; Walchuk drew around a guard, but over curled just a tad. Again, Morris "laid the angle freeze on" to quote Ray. With the hammer, Martin was left with a draw to the 4' for only 1.

Morris 3, Martin 2

End #7: After the 2nds' stones, the rocks were lined up on the centre line. After a whole mess of freezes and draws, Martin bumped his red stone a bit in, but didn't get the double he was looking for. Morris's first shot moved the stones around the button a little. Martin threw up a long guard; and Morris responded with a difficult draw/tap for 2.

Morris 5, Martin 2

End #8: Martin missed a double to blank the end; steal of 1 for Morris. Is he this good? It's hard for me to tell, since he seems to play a 1980s style game.

Morris 6, Martin 2

End #9: Martin was again forced to take one with the hammer. That leaves Morris up by 3 with the hammer going home.

Morris 6, Martin 3

In the 10th, Morris ran Martin out of rocks. Morris won. The Morris and Gushward/Howshue rinks lead the field with records of 6 wins and 1 loss.