‘Absolutely awesome’

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/02/2012 (5166 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

DAUPHIN — Rob Fowler is following in his father’s footsteps, and he couldn’t be happier to do it.

No Brandon-based men’s curling team had represented Manitoba at the Brier since Brian Fowler skipped a squad to the 1987 event. Rob, however, ended the city’s 25 years of misery in the sport when his team of Allan Lyburn, Richard Daneault and Derek Samagalski beat former Brandonite Mike McEwen

10-6 in the Safeway Championship final in Dauphin Sunday afternoon.

“It’s absolutely awesome (to bring a title to Brandon),” Fowler said. “Obviously this championship has gone back to Winnipeg for a long time. To win it and take it back to Brandon and the Westman area is just huge for that area.”

The last Westman-based team to represent Manitoba at the Brier was Deloraine’s Duane Edwards in 1990.

Fowler’s team had a rough road to the final. They lost their first playoff game and were forced to beat four seeded teams — including last year’s world champion Jeff Stoughton, Brandon’s Terry McNamee and former Brandonite William Lyburn — in must-win scenarios in order to play McEwen in the final.

It took a while for Fowler’s team to get settled in the final. He was forced to make a perfect freeze with his last rock to hold McEwen to a deuce in the first end and then made a double-raise takeout for one in the second end.

The 36-year-old skip believed his team settled down after that, which allowed them to steal one in the third end and two more in the fourth when McEwen’s draw wrecked on a guard.

The teams exchanged deuces after that until the 10th end, with the exception of the sixth, which was blanked.

Down 8-6 in the final end, McEwen was forced to make a difficult triple takeout to force an extra end, but he missed it and gave up two instead.

“The team really kept its composure no matter what the scenario was, and we really weathered a storm in the first couple of ends,” Fowler said. “Probably my last shot in the second end to get a point — maybe we could have got more but we got one to make it 2-1 instead of 4-0 — was a huge turning point in the game and it just kind of settled things down and we were good from there.”

The loss hit McEwen, who curls with B.J. Neufeld, Matt Wozniak and Denni Neufeld, very hard. This is the third straight year he has lost the championship game, and this year it was his only loss at the event.

“Life sucks sometimes,” said McEwen, who grew up in Brandon but now curls out of Winnipeg. “It’s not fair. There’s nobody who works harder than us, but it didn’t work out. All the credit to them. They played better than we did today. … I don’t know why this happens. We’re great in other finals. We never lost a grand slam final. I don’t know what it is why we can’t play our best game on a Safeway Sunday.”

Fowler believes his previous experience at Briers — he was Stoughton’s second in 2007, 2009 and 2010 — and Daneault’s experience as Kerry Burtnyk’s second in 2008 will come in handy at the Brier.

However, he can’t wait to make his debut as a skip on the national scene.

“It’s going to be awesome,” he said. “The Brier is by far the best event. The grand slams are great, but the Brier is definitely the best. We’re very much looking forward to going to Saskatoon.”

EXTRA ENDS: This is the second time in two attempts Fowler has won a trip to the Brier when provincials were held in Dauphin. Brian Fowler also won a junior men’s provincial title in Dauphin in 1971 when he played third for Murray Nye.

William Lyburn was named the all-star skip of the Safeway Championship. His Allan Lyburn was named all-star third, while Wozniak and Denni Neufeld were named all-star second and lead, respectively.

» cjaster@brandonsun.com