On Saturday 30th March, two team from Kinross ventured to Braehead for the National Virtual Club Bonspiel. A team from Kinross had won this the last two years, so there was no pressure…
There were a total of 24 teams from all 12 different virtual clubs. There would be two leagues and the format was that each team would play four games of four ends each. Then, in a final round of play-off games, the top team in each league would play each other for 1st and 2nd place, the second placed teams in each league would play each other for 3rd and 4th etc.
Kinross 1 (Brian Johnston, James Campbell, Lesley Johnston and Mark Price) were in Section B, with Kinross 2 (Bruce Falconer, Dave Thomson, Karen Purvis and Dawn Black) were in Section A.
First up, Kinross 1 were playing Ayr 2 coming away with a 2-2 draw. Kinross 2 beat East Kilbride 1 (10-0) in the same session (to be fair East Kilbride had only been playing for about 6 weeks!). Both teams had a break and came back in the third session. Both teams came off the ice with a win, Kinross 1 beating Highland 2 (7-1) and Kinross 2 beating Highland 1 (7-1).
After lunch, the next games were decided by a Schenkel system. For those that don’t know, this means that the top two teams in each league play each other (unless they already have in which case 1st plays 3rd), and the 3rd and 4th teams play each other and so on.
In Section A, Kinross 2 and Lockerbie had both won 2 out of 2 and played each other. Kinross 2 came away with a 3-1 win in a very tight match. The Section B match up saw Kinross 1 playing Braehead 4 and kept up the good work with a 7-3 win.
The final round of matches would decide the play off positions and both teams were sitting in good positions with no defeats…famous last words. The Schenkel system comes into play again, after re-ordering the league positions meaning that both teams were up against one of the five home teams from Braehead. Home advantage was key and resulted in defeats for both Kinross teams (Kinross 1 lost 1-3 and Kinross 2 lost 2-5). The final positions meant that Kinross 1 had dropped to 6th and Kinross 2 had dropped to 3rd in their respective leagues, despite only having lost one match each. Kinross 2 had even won more ends than any other team! Such is the Schenkel system.
The final matches saw both Kinross 1 and Kinross 2 win against Edinburgh 2 (3-2) and Highland 2 (2-1) respectively to finish 11th and 5th.
Overall, it was a long and tiring day, but both teams played well, only losing one game each in the end.
Next year’s tournament promises to be just as much fun, so let’s have plenty of volunteers to choose from (and maybe even enter another team or two).
There were a total of 24 teams from all 12 different virtual clubs. There would be two leagues and the format was that each team would play four games of four ends each. Then, in a final round of play-off games, the top team in each league would play each other for 1st and 2nd place, the second placed teams in each league would play each other for 3rd and 4th etc.
Kinross 1 (Brian Johnston, James Campbell, Lesley Johnston and Mark Price) were in Section B, with Kinross 2 (Bruce Falconer, Dave Thomson, Karen Purvis and Dawn Black) were in Section A.
First up, Kinross 1 were playing Ayr 2 coming away with a 2-2 draw. Kinross 2 beat East Kilbride 1 (10-0) in the same session (to be fair East Kilbride had only been playing for about 6 weeks!). Both teams had a break and came back in the third session. Both teams came off the ice with a win, Kinross 1 beating Highland 2 (7-1) and Kinross 2 beating Highland 1 (7-1).
After lunch, the next games were decided by a Schenkel system. For those that don’t know, this means that the top two teams in each league play each other (unless they already have in which case 1st plays 3rd), and the 3rd and 4th teams play each other and so on.
In Section A, Kinross 2 and Lockerbie had both won 2 out of 2 and played each other. Kinross 2 came away with a 3-1 win in a very tight match. The Section B match up saw Kinross 1 playing Braehead 4 and kept up the good work with a 7-3 win.
The final round of matches would decide the play off positions and both teams were sitting in good positions with no defeats…famous last words. The Schenkel system comes into play again, after re-ordering the league positions meaning that both teams were up against one of the five home teams from Braehead. Home advantage was key and resulted in defeats for both Kinross teams (Kinross 1 lost 1-3 and Kinross 2 lost 2-5). The final positions meant that Kinross 1 had dropped to 6th and Kinross 2 had dropped to 3rd in their respective leagues, despite only having lost one match each. Kinross 2 had even won more ends than any other team! Such is the Schenkel system.
The final matches saw both Kinross 1 and Kinross 2 win against Edinburgh 2 (3-2) and Highland 2 (2-1) respectively to finish 11th and 5th.
Overall, it was a long and tiring day, but both teams played well, only losing one game each in the end.
Next year’s tournament promises to be just as much fun, so let’s have plenty of volunteers to choose from (and maybe even enter another team or two).