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Curling TipsIf You're Winning By Several Points in the Middle EndsYour greatest enemy now might be your own team if they lapse in the self congratulation mode and become blasé. You don’t have to be in a killer mode all the time, but make sure you don’t fall asleep. Since you are ahead by a comfortable margin, look to keep the front of the house fairly free, even if you do not have the hammer. You must deny your opponent any chance of building a wall up front and sneak two or more stones behind it. If you manage to put a stone on or near the button, you might consider guarding it or placing another stone away from the centre line and about t-line; if the opposition hits your unguarded stone and don’t roll behind a guard, you can return the favour, and the second stone will be a threat. If you succeed in placing a good guard and the opposition wrecks on it, replace it because it was a good decision; if they go by your guard and your counter, reinforce the guard. Stones that are placed in front of the house and 2 or 3 feet off-centre are dangerous so do ask for them to be taken out. Take outs should be heavy take outs so that you can try to remove both stones out of play. Soft take outs are dangerous at this point because the shooter could end up providing the opposition with an opportunity to hide behind it. Finally, your stones should be at or in front of the t-line; anything behind the t-line is a backing that the opposition could freeze to. At this point, do not consider blanking an end; an extra point is another nail in the coffin. Excerpt from Strategy for the New Skip: the Middle Ends by Norman H. Danylo |