In the first round of the National Denny Cup knockout competition CIBC narrowly defeated arch rivals Ipswich. This National fixture involves two matches at home and two on the away rinks. The games were extremely hard fought and this is reflected in the results. There were two one shot wins, a tie, and a five shot win.
At home CIBC won on one rink (21-16). This winning margin proved vital in the overall scheme of other results. CIBC drew (18-18) on the other home rink. Total score for the home leg was 39-34 in favour of CIBC.
On the away rinks CIBC had a 19-18 win and suffered a 17-18 loss. Thus, the away aggregates were tied 36-36. Giving CIBC an overall 75-70 win.
There has been a significant personnel shift at the club this winter. We welcome Shaun Cook back after his season at Falcon. Also flown the coop from Falcon are James Rippey, Andy Squire and James Butcher. All four played against Ipswich, three as skip and contributed much to our success on the day as two had wins and the other a draw.
On the first home rink CIBC skip Andy Squire and his team, Brian Smith, Martin Hogg and Mark Tokley got off to a flying start, winning the first five ends to lead 9-0. They only won two of the next ten ends but still managed to lead 15-11. Still plenty of time to lose in the final six ends. Ipswich must have been gutted when CIBC scored a 4 on the 19th end to lead 21-13 and go on to win 21-16.
In the second home game CIBC skip Jack Butcher had in his team John Kavanagh, Matt Lace and Shaun Cook. They had a decent start and led 5-2 after four ends. The lead grew to 10-4 after eight ends. Ipswich won the next three ends and the scores were tied 10-10 after eleven. CIBC grabbed the lead again, but scores were again tied 13-13 after 16. Ipswich won the next two ends, leaping into 4 shot lead but a 4 for CIBC on the 19th saw the scoreboard read 17 19 17. The final score was s18-18.
Away from home CIBC skip James Rippey was playing with Dave Fisher, Len Oakes and Elliot Mann. They got off to a flying start with a 5 on the first end, followed up with a 3 on the third to lead 8-1. Things got leaner after that but they still led 13-9 after fifteen ends. The lean times continued and 4 shots to Ipswich on the 17th end and then repeated on the 19th saw CIBC trailing15-18 after 20 ends. It took a ripper 4 from Rippey to secure a 19-18 win on the final end.
The second away rink saw another close one shot game, that went in favour of Ipswich. CIBC skip Dan Rodger played with, Geoff King, Andy Smith and Darren Dellar. Five shots on the third end saw CIBC lead 7-0. Ipswich did all the scoring for the next five ends and the scores were tied after eight. CIBC needed another 5 shots on the 12th end to regain the lead (13-12). All but one of final 9 ends were settled by a single shot, which meant the Ipswich sealed the win on the 14th end by scoring a two. Final score 17-18.