The 2010 Scott Semi-Finals: PEI vs. Ontario, Conclusion

My guess is that ON needs to score more than one in the 8th end (while they have the hammer) if they want to have even a ghost of a chance against PEI.

End #8: Again, PEI starts with rocks in the rings and ON tries for corner guards. And again O'Rourke nose hits a guard, giving ON a chance to do more in the rings. 2nd time, she peels the guard. guard-peel, etc., again. Ramsay ticks on a corner guard, loses her shooter, and removes a PEI rock from the rings. Oops... the front end of ON called a George rock to be back 4', but it was top 4'. Set up a double for Carmody. Hit and roll attempt by McCarville, but the shooter either went too far or not far enough, sitting wide open and pickable. Beauty double by McCarville to score 2 and keep ON in the game.
PEI 8, ON 6

End #9: Two rocks in the rings for PEI (one too deep) and two centre guards for ON. Freeze by ON to the PEI rock on the side of the 4'. PEI peels the guard. Miharija's draw attempt ticks on the guard, rolls over to the side 12'. PEI peels the guard. George puts up a guard, and PEI removes a rock from the rings. PEI lies 1, George draws around the guard to be shot rock. PEI removes the guard. McCarville puts up a near-centre guard, but PEI thinks they can knock out a couple of ON rocks. A knock-out and a top leave PEI sitting two. ON's play is a draw around the near-centre guard. 4' heavy and sweepers could have held up on it. That leaves Carmody a draw to the full 8' for one, or if she's bold, a slight tap-back for three. They settle for one.
PEI 9, ON 6

End #10: ON has the hammer and must score three to tie and force an extra end. It's doable, but unlikely. The curling percentages have gotten closer (as reflected in the tighter score), and Carmody is curling over 90%, twenty percentage points more than McCarville!

Two guards by ON, two in the rings by PEI (which really bothers both Ray and Linda [colour commentators]). Both of them would prefer that PEI keep the rings clean. I have to agree. And once again O'Rourke, who has the lowest curling percentage on the ice for this game, noses the guard. So, to quote Doyle, "the game is afoot."

Hit and flop by George, but not quite far enough. Ramsay was wide with a pick, but got a very lucky double, making life pretty difficult for ON. George's draw ticks a guard and is wide open. Carmody hits and rolls out. Time out PEI.

As it is, PEI has shot in the top 8, ON has a rock in the top 12. ON needs to get rid of the PEI rock and score three. It'll take a miracle for them to pull this off. They freeze to their own, which is a pretty good strategy. If Carmody completely misses now, then ON can nose it and score 3. PEI decides to guard against this possibility, which will make life very miserable for ON. The guard is pretty tight. The only shot left for McCarville is to play a hard split so that her shooter barely slides in and the guard hits and rolls out and the momentum is high enough to move the two reds onto the yellow and drive it out. I don't know that I've seen her throw this much weight, but it sure is exciting to contemplate.

Nope. PEI steals one.

Final Score: PEI 10, ON 6

Digression: what a great day for sports couch potatoes tomorrow! Soccer in the morning at 11am, Scotties final at 2:30pm, and the SuperBowl at 6:30.