The final of the Shanter Trophy was played at Braehead on Thursday 19th February between Drystanes and Carmunnock & Rutherglen. In a tense game on tricky ice on which neither team could establish control of the game, John Fingland (subbing for an injured Graeme Nicolson) with his final stone made what will probably prove to be the shot of the season to win the Shanter Trophy for Drystanes by beating Carmunnock & Rutherglen. Having gone into the final end peeled at 4 shots apiece but without final stone, John was faced with C&R lying 2 shots, one exposed in the front 8-foot and the other, a biter behind cover on the front 12-foot ring and two guards on the centreline in front of the house. One option was to hit the exposed stone and lie in the house, but unless he could roll behind cover, Alistair Govan, C&R skip, only had to remove the Drystanes stone, no certainty on the swingy ice, or draw into the 8-foot. The alternative, which John opted for, was to draw the button which he did to perfection to cover the centre hole behind the long guards. Well swept, a team effort!
This left Alistair Govan to play a back 4-foot weight, sufficiently light to draw behind the guards but sufficiently heavy to tap back the Drystanes stone. In the event he was either fractionally light or fractionally wide and finished frozen against the Drystanes stone but without moving it. Had the C&R sweepers gone into action, the stone would have slipped past the Drystanes stone.
Photographs of the final two shots and the team, with non-playing skip Graeme Nicolson, can be found here. Drystanes played yellow stones.
Congratulations to John Fingland, Scott Martin, Steven Harte and Colin Keir on winning the Shanter Trophy for only the second time in Drystanes History. An injured Graeme Nicolson watched apprehensively from the gallery.
This left Alistair Govan to play a back 4-foot weight, sufficiently light to draw behind the guards but sufficiently heavy to tap back the Drystanes stone. In the event he was either fractionally light or fractionally wide and finished frozen against the Drystanes stone but without moving it. Had the C&R sweepers gone into action, the stone would have slipped past the Drystanes stone.
Photographs of the final two shots and the team, with non-playing skip Graeme Nicolson, can be found here. Drystanes played yellow stones.
Congratulations to John Fingland, Scott Martin, Steven Harte and Colin Keir on winning the Shanter Trophy for only the second time in Drystanes History. An injured Graeme Nicolson watched apprehensively from the gallery.