Buffaloed by butterflies

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This article was published 04/03/2012 (5197 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SASKATOON — Missed draws, open hits that rolled out, too many steals.

Opening day here at the 2012 Tim Hortons Brier on Saturday didn’t look much like the impeccable performance that won Brandon’s Rob Fowler last month’s Manitoba men’s provincial curling championship.

But for all of Fowler’s difficulties on opening day — and what he admits were some jitters — he still emerged by day’s end with a 1-1 record and a valuable reminder that his margin for error this week is much thinner now that he’s skipping at a Brier for the first time.

“When you’re a skip and you miss a couple of shots,” observed Fowler, “it’s going to show up on the scoreboard.”

Fowler played second for Jeff Stoughton at the 2007, 2009 and 2010 Briers and had the luxury in those days of knowing that a mistake by him could easily be papered over with third and skip stones still to come.

But Fowler had no such luxury here on Saturday and a series of last-rock miscues effectively cost his team the game in a 7-6 extra end loss on the opening draw to a lightly regarded Quebec foursome skipped by Chicoutimi’s Robert Desjardins.

But after the poor outing against Quebec — “Honestly, I was probably a little nervous in the first five ends,” Fowler later admitted — the Manitoba skip and his team responded nicely with a convincing 6-3 victory last night over New Brunswick’s Terry Odishaw.

And so put it altogether and Manitoba heads into a tough test this morning against Newfoundland’s Brad Gushue (0-1) with some lessons learned. “We definitely played a little better as a team,” Fowler said after the win over New Brunswick, “and I myself played better. I think we’re settled in now and we got through the first day at 1-1, so we’ll move forward with that.”

Manitoba also plays P.E.I. (0-2) here tonight.

Fowler wondered if the opportunity to play a known opponent in Gushue — who Fowler has faced many times over the years in previous Briers and on the Grand Slam circuit — might actually be easier for him than the unknowns he faced on Saturday, even if Gushue does have an Olympic gold medal from 2006 in Torino.

“Sometimes when you play a team like that you know a little bit better, it’s maybe easier,” said Fowler. “The two teams we played today, we didn’t know a lot about. It doesn’t really allow us to set up a game plan or try and capitalize on certain things we’re familiar with on the other teams.”

Fowler will certainly be familiar with Gushue third Ryan Fry, a Winnipeg native who played with Fowler and Stoughton at the 2007 Brier.

Saturday’s loss to Quebec 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.

Fowler shot just 75 per cent against Quebec, but rebounded with a stronger 79 per cent performance against New Brunswick. After giving up yet another steal in the opening end and then blanking the second end against New Brunswick, Fowler got a deuce in the third end and never trailed again.

The game remained close, however, and Manitoba had a 4-3 lead in the ninth end when Odishaw missed an in-off attempt with the final rock to give up a decisive steal of two.

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The two best players for Manitoba on opening day were actually the two players without any Brier experience — lead Derek Samagalski and third Allan Lyburn. Samagalski shot 89 per cent through two games — second among leads — while Lyburn shot 85 and 83 per cent — fifth among thirds.

Lyburn said he felt good in his Brier debut. “The key for me is getting a feel for draw weight. It makes all the other shots so much easier,” said Lyburn. “I just want to throw consistently for Rob, so he can get a good read from them.”

LOOSEHAIRS — Ontario third Wayne Middaugh won a two-year lease on a car in the pre-event individual skills competition…Ontario lead Craig Savill was second… Pre-event favorites Ontario and Alberta both won their openers…Nova Scotia’s Jamie Murphy is the only team at 2-0, but his wins came against doormats in P.E.I. and the Territories… Gushue lost his opener in an extra end to Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca