Cowling earns first crown at senior women’s provincials

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This article was published 01/03/2016 (3709 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Every February since 2008, Sandra Cowling has battled at the Manitoba senior women’s curling provincials for the right to represent her province on the national stage.

In 2011, the Hamiota skip watched as Deborah Popovic captured the title by stealing two in the 10th end of the final for an 8-6 win. Three years later, Cowling again finished runner-up, losing 6-4 to Lois Fowler on a closing deuce.

But on Monday, Cowling, third Sheila Gregory, second Jackie Brooks and lead Jeannine Skayman finally put the cherry on top of a perfect week. Cowling scored a single in the eighth end to beat Neepawa’s Terry Ursel 5-4 at Winnipeg’s Fort Rouge Curling Club.

“The third time was the charm,” the 58-year-old skip said minutes after her foursome was crowned provincial champions.

With the win, Cowling will finally have a chance to represent Manitoba when she guns for a Canadian title in Digby, N.S., from March 28 to April 3.

“It means everything, something everyone wants to do at least once in their lifetime,” she said of getting a chance to wear the buffalo.

The team, all of whom are from Hamiota, came together in the lead-up to the 2008 event and have stuck together ever since. It paid off in Winnipeg as the fourth seed went undefeated, 5-0, en route to the Manitoba title.

“We just gelled. We were sharp from the start and it just continued on through. We missed the odd shot, but not very many,” Cowling said.

She opened with a 9-2 win over Darlene Maywood, bested Killarney’s Deb Collyer 7-3 and humbled defending champion Kim Link 11-3 in an A-side qualifier before deposing of 2012 champion Laurie Deprez 9-4 in a semifinal showdown Monday morning.

Then she faced Ursel.

“It was the closest game we’ve had all week and I just felt that if we could keep the front open with our last rock we had a pretty good chance,” Cowling said.

Ursel, who was seeded fifth, ousted Brandonite Maureen Bonar and her team from Stonewall 6-3 in the other semifinal. It was the first time Ursel had reached the senior provincial final, and it marked the eighth time in 11 years two Westman teams met with a berth to nationals on the line.

Westman teams have now won 10 of the last 13 senior women’s provincial titles.

Unfortunately for the Neepawa skip, she gave up a key steal of one in the sixth end which changed the dynamic of the game.

Ursel declined to speak with the media following her loss.

For Cowling, however, it will be the first appearance at the national level for any member of her team and the skipper is looking to forward to the experience of it all and contending for the title.

“The goal is to go there and curl as well as we can and see where it goes,” she said. “We have no idea what to expect.”

SENIOR MEN’S: Kelly Robertson of Neepawa, a three-time provincial and one-time national champion, fell 8-1 to Bob Sigurdson in Monday morning’s semifinal. After Robertson opened with a single in the first end, Sigurdson came back with a four-ender in two before stealing two in three and singles in the fourth and fifth ends before Robertson decided to shake hands. Sigurdson later lost 6-5 to reigning Canadian champion Randy Neufeld in the final.

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