Help! I'm Winning!

We have all been lucky enough to either make a few great shots, or have a few misses from our opposition, and be staked to an early lead. This might seem like a gift, but an experienced curler will tell you that defending a lead is one of the most difficult things to do in the game. With the addition of the four-rock rule, the continued improvement of ice and rocks to create significant curl, there are lots of factors that encourage offensive play in the modern game. 

So, if you are staked to a large lead, how do you defend it? How do you keep your opponents from fighting their way back?

1. Keep it clean.

When you are winning, rocks in play are not your friend - no matter which team they belong to. So when your lead is shooting, avoid throwing guards. Bring your rocks into the house, or if you want to be really safe, throw them right through the house and out of play. When it comes to your second's rocks...

2. Peel the guards.

Your opponent's first move in their attempted comeback will be to throw guards. The best move to counter this is to remove them from play. A "peel" is when you hit a guard out of play and also roll your shooting rock off the sheet as well. Some teams shy away from peels because they feel they can't throw enough weight to make the shot. While it may be easier to throw a peel if you can throw it hard, peels can actually be completed successfully with as little as hack weight. It's all about hitting the rock in the right spot, and making sure your shooter is swept right out of play. Peeling guards out of play will make your life a lot easier when you are trying to maintain a large lead.

3. Group the stones.

Once you have worked your opponent's guards out of play by employing the peel, they will likely have a couple of rocks in the house. This is ok: even if they have two rocks in the house, if there are no guards you will have very simply shots moving forward, with low risk of giving up a big end.

As you move forward in the end, you can try to eliminate multiple rocks at a time. In order to throw these double, or triple takeouts, you may have to begin by grouping the rocks. To do this you should try and pull all of their rocks together in the house.

As you can see in the picture, if your opponent has "split the house", or thrown rocks on opposite sides of the circles, by hitting and rolling to the middle you are pulling the rocks in the house closer together. If you have a chance to hit multiple rocks at a time, take a shot! Remember rocks in play are not your friend, so keep hitting as much as possible.



So, the next time you find yourself with a big lead on the scoreboard, do yourself a favour and remember to keep it clean. Peel as many guards as you can, group the opponent's stones in order to create double-takouts, and this will limit the chances of giving up a big end, and leaving the door open for your opponent to get back in the game.