Kubeska are Edinburgh International Champions

Quarter Finals

An early start in Edinburgh on Saturday for the eight teams who had qualified for the quarter finals. (See previous blog post).

The first quarter final saw Stjerne defeat Bryce by 6-4. Bryce required a steal of 1 in the 8th end in order to force an extra end, but it wasn't to be for them, and Stjerne capitalised on their last stone advantage to take 1 in the final end and progress to the semi final.

Johnny Frederiksen (Team Stjerne)

Kubeska and Baumann were all even after 5 ends, but scores of 1 in ends 6,7 and 8 earned Kubeska a place in the semi finals, where they would face Stjerne.

The quarter final between Mouat and Sik started off with two blank ends, and then two singles from Mouat. Sik responded with a strong score of 3, but unfortunately that was their only posting on the scoreboard during this match, and Team Mouat scored two more singles to run out 4-3 winners.

Hardie faced Schwaller in their quarter final match up, and put on a strong performance, where a steal of 2 in end 7 secured the win for them, with the final score being 6-2. This set up an all-Scottish semi final.

Duncan Menzies (Team Hardie)

Semi Finals

The semi final matches were both great games; one international, and one all-Scottish!

Klima (Team Kubeska) and Poulsen (Team Stjerne)

Kubeska took the hammer into the first end, and used this to score 2 points against Stjerne. The Danish could only reply with a score of 1 in end 2. Ends 4-6 saw Stjerne pick up two valuable points, leaving the score at 4-3, with two ends remaining. The Czechs used their last stone advantage to score 3 points in end 7; handshakes were offered, and Team Kubeska proceeded to the final.

[Semi Final Score 7-3]

A crowd of spectators gathered to see the current World Junior Champion Skip put his team for this season up against GSCT leaders, and winners of both tour events so far, Team Hardie.

Menzies and Fraser (Team Hardie) and Cannon (Team Mouat)

Mouat went into the game with hammer, and started strongly with a score of 2. Hardie's decision to blank end 2 and retain hammer paid off when they scored 3 points in end 3. Another blank, and another score of 2 for Mouat left the teams only one point apart, but the pivotal moment of this match was the consequent steal of 2 in end 6. A single for Team Hardie in end 7 meant they were fighting to steal 2 in end 8 to force an extra end. A clean end from Mouat meant that they ran their opposition out of stones, and Mouat would proceed to the final.

[Semi Final Score 6-4]

Final

Team Mouat (Bruce Mouat, Bobby Lammie, Alasdair Schreiber, Derrick Sloan, Gregor Cannon [not pictured], coached by Alan Hannah)

Team Kubeska (Jiri Candra, Lukas Klima, Martin Juric, Karel Kubeska, coached by Brad Askew)

Team Mouat started well in the final, taking 1 with hammer in the first end.

Bobby Lammie, Team Mouat

The second end was played very agressively, with 3 Mouat stones and 1 Kubeska stone in the 4ft. An excellent triple take out by skip Kubeska left his stone in the 4ft, along with 2 others in the house to lie 3. A case of a touch too much ice meant Mouat's attempted freeze was sitting out in the open, and the Czechs made a hit for 4.

Sloan, Schreiber and Lammie watch over Klima's stone

Unfazed, the Scots responded with a 1 in the 3rd end to take the score to 4-2. Another great end by Team Kubeska gave them a score of 3. An unfortunate hit and roll out by Mouat in end 5 meant that the Czechs stole 1, and they became Edinburgh International Champions!

[Final Score 8-2]

Edinburgh International Champions 2016, Team Kubeska

Runners up, Team Mouat

Overview

The standard of curling across the weekend was extremely high, and some regular attendees as well as some new faces thoroughly enjoyed the weekend.

Robin Copland of the local organising committee presented the prizes, and noted that Team Kubeska were one of only a handful of non-Scottish teams to ever win the Championships! Worth missing two sets of flights owing to success they were not anticipating!

Thanks were given to the ice staff, the catering staff, officials, organising committee, and to the teams themselves for a great weekend.

Some new teams are joining the GSCT leaderboard, while others gained more valuable points in this third event of the tour. An updated scoreboard will be posted shortly.

We hope you've enjoyed the GSCT coverage this weekend! With only a matter of days until the next event, there isn't long to wait for more tour action. Teams will be in Forfar next weekend for the Forfar Open. Check back later in the week for a preview of this event.