A win for Manitoba curlers

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This article was published 09/03/2012 (4944 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SASKATOON — Brandon’s Rob Fowler has become just the second Manitoba team in history not based out of Winnipeg to qualify for the Brier playoffs.

With a pair of Manitoba victories and an Alberta loss here at the 2012 Tim Hortons Brier on the final day of the round robin on Thursday, Manitoba’s Fowler qualified for tonight’s Page playoff 1 vs. 2 game against Ontario.

And he overcame the weight of a very difficult history for rural Manitoba teams at this event to do it.

“For ourselves, for Westman and for all of Manitoba, it’s a great feeling,” said Fowler.

The only other Manitoba team from outside Winnipeg to compete in the Brier playoffs since playoffs were first introduced at the 1980 Brier was Mel Logan of Souris in 1982. Logan finished the round robin that week at 6-5 and won a tiebreaker game but lost the semifinal.

Prior to the introduction of playoffs at the Brier, Ab Gowanlock also won the Brier twice while curling out of rural Manitoba. Gowlanlock won a Canadian men’s curling championship curling out of Glenboro in 1938 and then won it all again in 1953, curling out of Dauphin.

Fowler is just the 12th team in history not based in Winnipeg to represent Manitoba at the Brier. Among the others was Fowler’s father — and his coach here this week — Brian Fowler, who went 6-5 at the 1987 Brier and missed the playoffs by a game.

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One of the keys to Fowler’s success this week has been the remarkably accurate shooting his team has doing even before the games have begun.

The hammer for the first end at the Brier is determined by a draw to the button that one member of each team does at the conclusion of their pre-game practices — and Manitoba won that contest in 10 of 11 round-robin games.

Fowler gets most of the credit — he handled five of those 11 draws. But the Brier rules require each team member to do at least two draws apiece during the round robin and the rest of Team Manitoba — third Allan Lyburn, second Richard Daneault and lead Derek Samagalski — were also very proficient at covering the lid.

Fowler said the hammer advantage should not be underestimated.

“It’s huge,” said Fowler. “When you’re curling good and you have the hammer, it gives you that little edge early. We got a lot of deuces early too, which got us off in the right direction and allowed us to maintain those leads…

“Derek and Richard, I think, were on the button on all of their draws. Which is pretty impressive, because I think they were probably a little nervous throwing those draws because it’s not something they do all the time.”

Manitoba won’t have the hammer advantage tonight, however. As the first-place team, Ontario gets both the hammer and choice of rock colour against Manitoba.

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You can see Manitoba’s success in their shooting percentages this week.

Manitoba’s Derek Samagalski led all leads during the round robin with a blistering 90 per cent average, while Manitoba third Allan Lyburn, at 85 per cent, was second only to Ontario’s Wayne Middaugh, who shot 87 per cent.

Manitoba second Richard Daneault was tied for third at his position at 85 per cent, while Fowler finished in a tie for third among skips at 79 per cent.

Fowler was 10th among skips when his team was languishing at 4-3 after Tuesday night, but he shot 83, 84, 89, and 88 in his last four outings to improve his numbers dramatically.

Overall, Manitoba shot 85 per cent as a team during the round robin, third behind Alberta’s 86 per cent and Ontario’s 87 per cent.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca