Lyburn starts Safeway solid

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This article was published 11/02/2011 (5604 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BEAUSEJOUR — You couldn’t miss William Lyburn at the Safeway Championship opening ceremonies Wednesday night.

He was the skip sporting the stylish brown plaid hat as the 32 teams were introduced at the provincial men’s curling championship.

Fortunately for Lyburn, the Brandon product has stood out for his shot-making ability as well, posting another win Thursday to run his record to 2-0.

"That’s where we want to be," Lyburn said after his seventh-seeded Deer Lodge rink from Winnipeg defeated Dave Elias of West Kildonan 10-2 in an afternoon game that ended after six ends.

"Those guys (Elias and company) are a good team. They’re a veteran team and they’ve got a couple of Buffaloes on their backs. They beat us a couple of times earlier in the season, but since September, we’ve been playing much more solid as a team. We’re more focused and we’re slowly getting some of our paybacks."

Before giving up a victory, the Elias rink also gave Lyburn the hat that befitted his Irish roots.

"That was a little bit of a fun thing," Lyburn said. "Hub Perrin, who plays on Elias’ team, was wearing a little cap. We went into the curling rink and I was a little cold, so I grabbed his hat and I put it on just to keep my head warm. It actually looked the part."

Lyburn has also looked the part of a winner this week. His new team of third James Kirkness, second Alex Forrest and lead Greg Melnichuk has found its form since winning the Brandon Men’s Bonspiel in early December.

"This is our year. This thing right here is our year," said Lyburn, 35.

"We want to try to give it the best opportunity."

The other finalist in the MCT championship was Rob Fowler’s Brandon rink, which includes Lyburn’s older brother, Allan, at third. Fowler improved his Safeway record to 2-0 with an 8-4 win Thursday over Dave Boehmer of Petersfield.

The Lyburn brothers are on opposite teams, but they’re together in business with Krevco Lifestyles. William’s work included a Las Vegas meeting with Olympic swimming star Michael Phelps this season.

"Our swim spa line that we sell at Krevco Lifestyles has been endorsed with Michael Phelps," said the younger Lyburn.

"I actually got a chance to hang out with him in the beginning of November. We got a night to hang out and pick his brain about a few things. It was kind of neat being right beside and chatting with a guy that’s got 14 gold medals on his neck and he’s the fastest guy in water. And he uses our product to train in."

Lyburn has teamed up with a friend in Kirkness, who went to a Brier in 1998 as third for Dale Duguid. Forrest was a Canadian junior finalist last year.

"He keeps us young," Lyburn said. "We wanted a little bit of that youth on the team and high energy for the sweeping and everything else. He’s going to have many years (of curling) to come down the road."

This morning’s qualifying matchups on the A side include Lyburn against defending champion Jeff Stoughton, while Fowler faces Hamiota upstart Brent Strachan.

In the other A qualifiers, top-seeded Mike McEwen of Assiniboine goes up against Sean Grassie of Deer Lodge and Vic Peters of Fort Garry meets Peter Nicholls of Pembina.

 

» jmacneil@brandonsun.com