Rookie nerves show in Manitoba loss to Quebec

By: Paul Wiecek Posted: 5:38 PM CST Saturday, Mar. 3, 2012

SASKATOON -- Manitoba’s Rob Fowler got his 2012 Tim Hortons Brier off to a rocky start.

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SASKATOON -- Manitoba’s Rob Fowler got his 2012 Tim Hortons Brier off to a rocky start.

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SASKATOON — Manitoba’s Rob Fowler got his 2012 Tim Hortons Brier off to a rocky start.

Making his rookie debut as a Brier skip, Fowler was admittedly nervous as he stumbled his way through an error-filled effort in a 7-6 extra end loss to Quebec’s Robert Desjardins here on the opening draw at Credit Union Centre.

“I made a couple mistakes,” said Fowler, who was outshot 82-75 by Desjardins. “I unfortunately just didn’t execute.

Jonathan Hayward / The Canadian Press
Manitoba skip Rob Fowler calls a shot during an afternoon draw against Quebec at the Tim Hortons Brier in Saskatoon on Sunday. He lost his Brier debut 7-6. — Jonathan Hayward / The Canadian Press Manitoba skip Rob Fowler calls a shot during an afternoon draw against Quebec at the Tim Hortons Brier in Saskatoon on Sunday. He lost his Brier debut 7-6.

“It’s just one of those things. When you’re a skip and you miss a couple of shots, it’s going to show up on the scoreboard.”

The game ultimately turned on critical Fowler errors with the final rocks of the fourth, seventh and eighth ends.

Lying one in the fourth end, Fowler elected a difficult double takeout with the final rock of the end that might have given his team as many as four points, but instead rubbed a guard and saw Manitoba end up giving up a steal of one instead.

Fowler was heavy with his final draw in the seventh end to give Quebec another steal.

And then in the eighth end, Fowler needed only an open hit with the last rock of the end to get his deuce, but rolled out and had to settle for one instead.

“Honestly, I was probably a little nervous in the first five ends,” Fowler explained. “But I got my legs now, so just bury that and we’ll come out strong in our next game.”

Manitoba plays again tonight against New Brunswick’s Terry Odishaw. Odishaw is also 0-1 after losing 6-5 to Ontario’s Glenn Howard this afternoon.

In other games, Saskatchewan’s Scott Manners won his Brier debut, 8-4 over P.E.I.’s Mike Gaudet. Nova Scotia’s Jamie Murphy also won his Brier debut, 9-5 over Jamie Koe of the Territories.