Brandon’s Lois Fowler felt she was almost destined to win her second Manitoba senior women’s curling title the longer the event went on in Souris on the weekend.
Fowler won her only other senior provincial title in 2009 when nationals were held in Summerside, P.E.I. The national senior championships will be there again this year, and so will Fowler, who defeated Killarney’s Deb Collyer 12-6 in the provincial final Sunday night.
“(I’m) obviously excited,” said Fowler, who plays with third Gwen Wooley, second Lori Manning, lead Joan Robertson and fifth Jill Hazelwood. “We played well. We had a couple of ups and downs this weekend, but we battled. We really wanted to do it. This is the fifth final for Lori and I, so we wanted this one.”
Fowler went undefeated during the event, but got fortunate breaks in the 1-vs.-1 Page playoff game. She trailed Laurie Deprez, who beat Fowler in last year’s final, 5-2 after eight ends but battled back to score a deuce in the ninth and steal singles in the 10th and the extra end to reach the final.
Her team dominated the final, scoring at least two points every time they had the hammer. Fowler took control in the fourth end when she scored four points.
Collyer’s path to the final was exhausting. She finished in a three-way tie for the final playoff spot in her pool at 4-2 and had to play in a pair of tiebreakers Friday night, with the last one starting at 10 p.m. She was back on the ice at 9 a.m. on Sunday, where she won two playoff games to reach the final.
Fowler can’t wait for nationals, which runs from March 16-24, and not just for a chance to win a Canadian title.
“You meet some long-lasting friends at these curling events and it’s pretty exciting that some of the ones we know will be there,” she said.
In the senior men’s provincial championship at Killarney, two-time defending champion Kelly Robertson will play in today’s final at 1:30 p.m. The Neepawa native reached the final by topping the Black Group with a 6-1 record and then went on to beat Winnipeg’s Bob Sigurdson 10-8 in Sunday night’s 1-vs.-1 Page playoff game.
Sigurdson will meet Pilot Mound’s Curtis McCannell in the semifinal today at 9:30 a.m. McCannell finished second in the Black Group with a 5-2 record and defeated Winnipeg’s Mike Mahon 9-5 in the 2-vs.-2 Page playoff game last night.
» cjaster@brandonsun.com
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition February 25, 2013
Sort by: Newest to Oldest | Oldest to Newest | Most Popular 0 Comments
You can comment on most stories on brandonsun.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments. All you need to do is register and/or login and you can join the conversation and give your feedback.