Good to the Last Rock

This post is the sixth in a series of posts about the sport of curling.

Our first matchup in the playoffs was against an unknown opponent from the West, St. Norbert College. They were led by an excellent junior curler (meaning that he had curled as a child in "junior curling" programs), which is relatively rare in the college curling circuit. Most college curlers are new to the sport as first years. I've never really pinned down the real reason juniors don't curl on college teams, but from observations of teams that have junior curlers, I have a hunch that it takes a certain personality to want to take on the responsibility that would come with immediately being the cornerstone of experience for a team. And that's especially true because college teams are probably not curling at as high a level as you are accustomed to playing. Having teammates immediately rely on you and look to you for your knowledge and ability is probably not the type of situation that works for everyone. It is also likely that, because there are junior Nationals and other junior-specific tournaments, most elect to stay with their junior teammates through college (the "junior" category ends at 21) because they are comfortable in that arrangement.

The St. Norbert team had a very capable leader (his name was Matt) who had helped start their program and really drove their success. He was much more experienced than me on the ice, but a bit less experienced in the college scene. It was a back-and-forth game (play-by-play here), with us taking an early lead. Critically, in the second end, my team was in trouble and I made a nearly perfect freeze (this is where the rock you have thrown ends its movement so close to the other rock that it is actually touching it, or at least acts like that from a physics standpoint; it's one of the hardest shots in curling) on one of the St. Norbert rocks to get a steal (scoring when the other team has the last shot). We were up 6-4 in the final end, but I missed a shot with my first rock that then allowed Matt to make two perfect freezes in a row to really put me into a pickle by sitting two, which would tie the game. But I wasn't about to let the chance slip away, and I was able to center myself and throw the draw I needed to score and win the game. This was such a special win to me personally because it meant that we had two more games to play (semi-final and then either the Championship or 3rd place game), and a 75% chance of earning hardware.

We had arrived in the semi-finals again, this time matched up against UW Steven's Point. We had never played them before, but had seen them at plenty of past Nationals, which they had won three years prior. Their team was incredibly experienced, made up of all junior curlers, meaning that their team in total had something like 40+ years of curling experience. In comparison, we had 10 years of combined experience. This is what happens when you get to the semi-finals at Nationals - you know, playing very good teams - but I guess I had been holding out hope that after getting Minnesota the previous year we might get lucky this time around.

The others on my team were a bit intimidated, I imagine, knowing the skill of our opponents. The thing about junior curlers is that you can see that they have been curling all of their lives. It's in the way they hold themselves while sliding and sweeping, technique taught from an early age. So, as the skip, I had to show a brave face to get my teammates centered. In truth, I was not intimidated; I was actually revved up and excited. After all, this is what I had worked for - the chance to play the best! But in the moment my teammates were probably less focused on the opportunity and more focused on the very real possibly of getting shellacked (like we had against Minnesota).

We held our own for much of the game, but missed some critical shots in the fourth end, giving up a score of five. I attribute this to the nerves catching up to the team, some miscalculations on my part, and just bad luck. That's what really good teams do to you - they trip you up and capitalize on your errors. We actually had a chance to get a score of four the very next end, but my last shot was just a little off and only scored one. In retrospect, that was our chance at the National Championship right there. The team actually did a great job of rebounding and clawing back, and with my last two shots I put us in a position to tie. The other skip's last shot was actually dangerously close to missing - I think the nerves got to her on that shot - but ultimately it curled up juuuuust enough to hit one of our stones out of play to win them the game. Sometimes that's just the way it goes. Looking back, that result was incredible. To be so much less experienced, to give up a huge score in the middle of the game, and to still take the game to the last rock was such a huge testament to just how far our team had come.

As fate would have it, our good friends from Penn also lost their semi-final game, and so we got to play them for 3rd place. Penn had medaled twice previously, and paired with the fact that I had never beaten them (after at least 5 or 6 tries), they were certainly the Vegas favorites. What a dream, to get to play at such a high level, competing against your friends - it felt like it was meant to be.

The result was actually quite surprising. Having played this team many times, I knew them and their strategy well. They relied heavily on the heroics of their leader Cody, who was a junior curler and was experienced at the Men's National level (like, the guys who compete to qualify for the Olympics). He alone had almost double the experience of my entire team. I knew that the best way to play them was to be incredibly aggressive early in ends by just piling rocks into the house. By clogging the sheet up and making it impossible to get rid of everything, it limited Cody's ability to just blow things up with big takeout shots, which were his signature. And if that was accomplished, it was just down to who could throw the better draws between the two of us. It turned out that I made almost every draw that day, and we won comfortably.

The team after being presented our medals. They tasted amazing. Left to right: Patrick, Xiang, me, Greg.

Both teams after the 3rd place game. Left to right: Adam, Richard, Amaya, Patrick, Xiang, Carly, me, Cody, Woody, Greg.

Finally, after four years, we had won hardware: the Bronze at Nationals. Few words can express how it felt to finally accomplish the biggest goal I'd set for the team when I helped start it. It was a culmination of tons of sweat, hard work, determination, and perseverance and is one of the proudest moments of my life. What a way to go out. All I will say is that it was good to the last rock.