Gridiron greats meet granite

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/02/2011 (5535 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BEAUSEJOUR — The biggest news for Manitoba sports fans at the Sun Gro Centre Saturday was that Buck Pierce took to a playing surface and didn’t have to leave on a stretcher.

The oft-injured Bombers QB, along with Bombers offensive lineman Glenn January, took the ice at the Safeway Championship Saturday morning and threw a couple of rocks as part of a promotional appearance that also included an autograph session.

The two football players tried throwing rocks in street shoes with predictable results. But then someone came forward with sliders and both men were soon sliding as far as the hogline.

— — —

The Manitoba Curling Media association announced the all-star team Saturday and Jeff Stoughton’s front-end made up one-half of the team.

Stoughton lead Steve Gould and second Reid Carruthers were joined by Vic Peters, who’s been throwing third rock, and skip Terry McNamee.

— — —

ROB Fowler went for the win and got burned.

The Brandon skip was playing the 10th end of a B-side qualifying game Saturday afternoon against Vic Peters. With Peters leading 7-6, Fowler was confronted with a decision — Draw the eight-foot with the hammer to tie the game or make a long raise-double takeout to score two and a victory.

One looked easy; the other difficult. Fowler elected the latter and will have a year to think about that after the effort went so hopelessly off-course that Fowler third Allan Lyburn removed his glove and began shaking hands with Peters before Fowler’s rock had even reached the hogline.

“We made a decision and unfortunately we just didn’t make the shot,” Fowler said. “We could have drawn for one and given the hammer back over to them and still lost the game. I think any time as a skip that you get a chance to throw a shot to win the game and you feel good about it, you go for it.

“This time it just didn’t work out.”

Fowler, a three-time Manitoba men’s champion as a second for Jeff Stoughton, was 4-0 entering Saturday but went bang-bang, also losing an A-side qualifier 7-5 to Stoughton on Saturday.

— — —

JEFF Stoughton was asked last night if he would sleep well in advance of today’s final.

“I don’t think we have to,” said Stoughton, “because we can get up and have a nap in the morning.

“You never sleep as well as you want to, but you get to lounge around a bit in the morning and get prepared and ready to roll.”

— — —

FOR all his team’s ups and downs this week, one constant for Mike McEwen’s team has been the skip’s draw weight.

McEwen has had to bail out his team numerous times with difficult draws. Friday night, he needed to draw the four-foot in an extra end to eke out the win against Bob Sigurdson.

And then Saturday night, he needed the four-foot in an extra end again, this time against Vic Peters.

“It’s a good feeling going in that if I have to, I can bail the guys out. I feel pretty confident if I have to make the tough draws. But hopefully, we can string together some more shots than just that.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca