'Roar of the Rings' - Men's Draw 5

With only 3 draws to go, the Men’s side of things are starting to come into focus. At 0-4, both Middaugh and Gunnlaugson have no chance of making the playoffs, and Simmons at 1-3 is not likely to have a chance. For Simmons to make the dance, he’ll have to first run the table, and then hope that 4-3 is the tiebreak mark. However, with three teams at 3-1, the odds on enough of them getting to three losses to give Simmons a chance is pretty slim. I think given all the head-to-heads with the teams higher up the board from Simmons, that it might be a mathematical certainty that enough wins will be collected to eliminate him.

Anyways, it’s shaping up for an exciting few draws of curling, as most of the big-guns will be going head to head. In fact Howard-Martin-Koe-Ferbey all play a mini 3-draw round-robin here over the last three draws. The wild-card is Stoughton at 2-2, who gets Gunnlaugson, Middaugh and Simmons to round out the draw. As the other 4 are dragging each other through the mud, Stoughton has a chance to rattle off 3 wins in a row, and leapfrog the whole pack. Stoughton has to be careful not to stumble, but he’s still in a really good spot, even at 2-2.

Men’s Draw 5 – 3:00 PM

Middaugh (0-4) v. Simmons (1-3)
Middaugh’s week is over, and this is a must-win for Simmons. Should he falter, the slim chance that he might still have will evaporate completely.

Koe (3-1) v. Howard (4-0)
Both teams managed to get through the ‘lower’ seeds in good shape, with Koe’s only loss coming to Stoughton. Obviously this is a big game, as Koe will look to keep pace with the tie-break spots, and Howard looks to keep a game clear of the pack for the bye to the finals.

Martin (3-1) v. Ferbey (3-1)
Two of the hometown teams go head-to-head in a huge game. Neither team will be out of it with the loss, or guaranteed to be in with the win, but the losers will need two straight against Koe-Howard if they drop this one…whereas the winner will only need to take 1.

Stoughton (2-2) v. Gunnlaugson (0-4)
Although he’s a game back of the tiebreak mark right now, the pack will fall to Stoughton at some point. He’s in the unique position of being in the hunt, but on the outside of the Howard-Martin-Ferbey-Koe mini round-robin. He has winnable games in front of him, but needs them all most likely.

I keep hammering on it, but if Stoughton had made that draw to the four-foot on Sunday night, he’d be in a tiebreaker right now.

Actually…all 5 teams at the top of the field would be tied at 3-1…what a situation that would have been…