Fowler takes bronze at Brier

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/03/2012 (5178 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SASKATOON — Manitoba’s Rob Fowler will head home from the 2012 Tim Hortons Brier with some extra cash and a bronze medal for his efforts over the last eight days.

And two of Fowler’s players — lead Derek Samagalski and third Allan Lyburn — will head home with all-star awards as Manitobans, including a couple of media representatives, won big at the Brier awards banquet Sunday afternoon.

Samagalski was named a first-team all-star, while Lyburn was named a second team all-star. Also winning awards at the Brier banquet was Winnipeg’s Len Dubyts, who was honoured with the Paul McLean award for his 40 years of work with CBC and TSN and pioneering of the use of the remote overhead camera in curling broadcasts.

Free Press curling writer Paul Wiecek was also honoured with the Scotty Harper Award, handed out annually to the reporter judged to have presented the most compelling curling story of the year. Wiecek was honoured for his story on former Cathy Overton-Clapham second Leslie Wilson, whose brother Brent died suddenly in the months leading up to the 2010-11 curling season. The story was published in the Free Press Feb. 22, 2011.

The Scotty Harper award is judged by a panel from the Carleton School of Journalism in Ottawa. Wiecek also won the award in 2005. 

But the biggest win for Manitoba on Sunday came on the ice.

Still stinging from an 8-6 loss to Alberta’s Kevin Koe in the Brier semifinal Saturday night, the Fowler foursome dusted themselves off Sunday morning and extracted some revenge on the Koe clan by defeating Jamie Koe of the Territories — Kevin’s brother — 8-7 in an extra end in Sunday morning’s bronze medal game. 

After struggling in playoff losses to Ontario Friday night and Alberta Saturday night, Fowler was the best player on the ice in the bronze emedal game, shooting a sizzling 90 per cent in the victory and drawing the four-foot with the final rock of the extra end to seal the victory.

“We didn’t win the medal we wanted to win,” said Fowler. “But after the week we had, it would have been very disappointing to have left empty-handed. We played an excellent game today and we needed an excellent game to win.”

With the win, Brandon’s Fowler — with third Allan Lyburn, second Richard Daneault and lead Derek Samagalski — will be awarded bronze medals in the closing ceremonies tonight and will also head home from Saskatoon with a cheque for $30,000 as the third-place finishers this week. The Territories will receive a cheque for $20,000.

“It means a lot to finish off on a positive note,” said Lyburn. “We had two games to get to the final and obviously didn’t play up to par. So to play well and win the bronze medal means a lot. There was money at stake, we get on the podium tonight, we got extra TV coverage which maybe might lead to some sponsorships.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Mike McIntyre | On Sports

Thursdays

Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter.

Sign up for Mike McIntyre | On Sports

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

“You come for gold. But at an event like this, it’s a couple inches difference between winning bronze and winning nothing.”

Just ask Koe. It was a bittersweet ending for Yellowknife skip and his northern foursome, who will head home without a medal but also with the satisfaction of being the first Territories team in history to qualify for the playoffs at the Brier. The very first northern entry at the Brier in 1975 — skipped by Whitehorse’s Don Twa — finished the round-robin second overall, but there was no playoffs at the Brier that time. 

Fowler joins Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones as a bronze medallist at the national championships this winter. Jones won bronze two weeks ago at the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Red Deer.

LOOSEHAIRS — Pilot Mound’s Nolan Thiessen, the lead for Alberta, was also honoured with a second team all-star selection. In addition to Thiessen and Lyburn, Alberta skip Kevin Koe and Ontario second Brent Laing were named second-team all-stars…In addition to Samagalski, the rest of the first team all-stars were Alberta second Carter Rycroft and Ontario third Wayne Middaugh and skip Glenn Howard.