Just call us the comeback kings!
For most of the season, we've been unable to come from behind, unlike a year ago when we seemed to do this on a weekly basis.
But ever since we rallied from 5-1 down to beat Paul Hunt Jr. 9-6 on January 22, we seemed to have found that swagger again, no matter how big the deficit is we feel we can somehow grind out a result.
We did this twice at the Goldstar Bonspiel but perhaps a true sign of our character was a couple of weeks ago against Collin Atkinson. They scored five in the first end and it would have been easy to drop our heads and say that's it but I never thought that for one minute.
A pair in two was followed by three straight steals totalling four points and suddenly we were ahead 6-5, we exchanged deuces and led 8-7 but they had hammer coming home. In typical Cadien drama, we stole two and got the win.
Further comebacks against Peter Richardson - trailing 0-3 to win 8-3 - and Neil Whyte - trailing 2-6 to tie 6-6 - showed again that we won't be throwing in the towel down the stretch as we head into the play-offs.
This is shown by the fact that up until the win over Hunt, we had rallied just twice when trailing after four ends. In the last twelve matches, we have come back six times and went a not too shabby 7-4-1 overall.
What we do have to work on is the hammer efficiency rate. I have taken a look at the statistics and while the steal percentage is very good (around 35%), our success with the hammer has been limited. At the completion of yesterday's game with Neil Whyte our hammer efficiency is a sick looking 28%. This means that we have scored two points or more with the hammer 28% of the time or 33 ends out of a possible 117.
It has gotten better of late because in December it was under 20% but if we are to make a run in both of our leagues we have to take advantage of our opportunities. I half-joked with Peter that if we win the coin toss we should defer taking the hammer. It sounds weird but we really do much better without it.
Looking ahead we have a crucial game with Robbie McClure on Thursday. If we can win that one, we can head into our last six games with some extra confidence because we face some of the top contenders after that. Sandy Chisholm follows on March 2 and he is tied for top spot with Wayne Robar at 10-2-3.
We want to make amends for a 10-2 pasting earlier in the year but the key is getting off to a good start because, with all due respect to our other competitors, you simply cannot give a player like Sandy a four or five point head start. They want to avoid finishing second once again so if we can beat them it would be a real blow to their title hopes.
The CCL will see us finish in the bottom six but that is OK as we rallied last year after finishing seventh. This season has been inconsistent but we feel we can surprise everybody in the play-offs just like we did a year ago in reaching the semi-finals. That gets going on March 19 and we will keep you posted.
Fasten your seatbelts because it should be one hell of a ride!
Cheers,
Terry
http://www.curlingrocks.com/team/rajuncadiens/
But ever since we rallied from 5-1 down to beat Paul Hunt Jr. 9-6 on January 22, we seemed to have found that swagger again, no matter how big the deficit is we feel we can somehow grind out a result.
We did this twice at the Goldstar Bonspiel but perhaps a true sign of our character was a couple of weeks ago against Collin Atkinson. They scored five in the first end and it would have been easy to drop our heads and say that's it but I never thought that for one minute.
A pair in two was followed by three straight steals totalling four points and suddenly we were ahead 6-5, we exchanged deuces and led 8-7 but they had hammer coming home. In typical Cadien drama, we stole two and got the win.
Further comebacks against Peter Richardson - trailing 0-3 to win 8-3 - and Neil Whyte - trailing 2-6 to tie 6-6 - showed again that we won't be throwing in the towel down the stretch as we head into the play-offs.
This is shown by the fact that up until the win over Hunt, we had rallied just twice when trailing after four ends. In the last twelve matches, we have come back six times and went a not too shabby 7-4-1 overall.
What we do have to work on is the hammer efficiency rate. I have taken a look at the statistics and while the steal percentage is very good (around 35%), our success with the hammer has been limited. At the completion of yesterday's game with Neil Whyte our hammer efficiency is a sick looking 28%. This means that we have scored two points or more with the hammer 28% of the time or 33 ends out of a possible 117.
It has gotten better of late because in December it was under 20% but if we are to make a run in both of our leagues we have to take advantage of our opportunities. I half-joked with Peter that if we win the coin toss we should defer taking the hammer. It sounds weird but we really do much better without it.
Looking ahead we have a crucial game with Robbie McClure on Thursday. If we can win that one, we can head into our last six games with some extra confidence because we face some of the top contenders after that. Sandy Chisholm follows on March 2 and he is tied for top spot with Wayne Robar at 10-2-3.
We want to make amends for a 10-2 pasting earlier in the year but the key is getting off to a good start because, with all due respect to our other competitors, you simply cannot give a player like Sandy a four or five point head start. They want to avoid finishing second once again so if we can beat them it would be a real blow to their title hopes.
The CCL will see us finish in the bottom six but that is OK as we rallied last year after finishing seventh. This season has been inconsistent but we feel we can surprise everybody in the play-offs just like we did a year ago in reaching the semi-finals. That gets going on March 19 and we will keep you posted.
Fasten your seatbelts because it should be one hell of a ride!
Cheers,
Terry
http://www.curlingrocks.com/team/rajuncadiens/
posted by curlerboi @ 8:14 p.m.
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