Montreal skip on his game in Tim Hortons final
By Ed O’Leary, Expositor Staff
Local News – Monday, November 06, 2006 Updated @ 10:56:13 PM
If Dwayne Fowler and the members of his rink from Montreal purchased a 649 lottery ticket before leaving Brantford on Sunday night, it’s doubtful if the rest of us have much of chance at Wednesday’s $36 million prize.
“I guess you could say it was our day,” Fowler said after scoring a 9-5 victory over Olympic Games gold medalist Brad Gushue of St. John’s, Nfld., in the championship match to grab the $10,000 first prize in the Tim Hortons Invitational Curling Classic at the Brantford Golf and Country Club.
Gushue’s foursome, which included third Mark Nichols, second Chris Schille and lead Jamie Korab, kept the pressure on Fowler’s team through the first six ends.
Only superb shotmaking by Fowler allowed his rink, which included third Michael Fournier, second Brad Fitzherbert and lead Sebastien Robillard, to have the score tied 4-4 after six ends of the scheduled 10-end match.
However, in the seventh end, the Fowler rink dominated and by the time Gushue stepped into the hack for his shots, Canada’s heroes from the Olympic Games were in trouble.
Gushue was forced to attempt a triple-takeout with his first shot but he only managed to move Fowler rocks around in the house and after Fowler slid his final rock down the ice, the Montreal squad had four counters staring Gushue in the face.
Gushue was forced to attempt a draw through a front guard, narrowly missing a Fowler rock in the 12-foot circle yet with enough weight to reach the four-foot circle to score one point.
Unfortunately for Gushue, as the rock curled towards its target, it suddenly turned off line. In curling circles, such a happening is known as a “pick” and Gushue’s rock hit Fowler’s guard into the house to give the Montreal team five points for the end and a 9-4 lead.
Gushue took a point in the eighth end and shook hands, settling for the $7,000 prize for second place.
“We played a poor end and got a bad break but give Dwayne’s team credit,” Gushue said. “That was a shot that I woould make 80 or 90 per cent of the time. Unfortunately, the rock caught something but we’ve had a few go our way over the last couple of years.
“Until that point, we played a solid six ends and I felt we could have been ahead (if it hadn’t been for Fowler’s shotmaking).”
“This game, the team struggled and I was on my game,” Fowler said. “I like to think you make your breaks, you make your luck.”
Fowler lost his opening-round match to Wayne Middaugh after compiling a 4-0 lead. He then went into the one-loss draw and scored one victory before losing to Guy Hemmings, a defeat which sent him into the two-loss catagory on the verge of elimination.
Fowler then caught lightning in a bottle and reeled off three consecutive victories to qualify for Sunday’s money rounds.
Fowler defeated John Epping, who has Brantford’s Nick Rizzo as his third, 8-7 in an extra end in a quarter-final match.
Fowler admitted to getting a good break in the seventh end of an 8-5 victory over defending Ontario champion Glen Howard in a semifinal match.
“We played well against Epping and we played well against Glenn,” said Fowler, who noted that Gushue was the supreme sportsman.
“What a gentleman to curl against as I said to him, he’s a fine representative for all of Canada.
“Curling, you get to play against a world champion (Howard) and an Olympic champion (Gushue). What other sport do you get to do that? There’s no other sport that you get to do that.
“The Brantford Golf and Country Club was a wonderful host. The people were very accomodating. Obviously, we’ll be back. Maybe, we should pay our entry fee (for next year) now.”
Gushue was undefeated until the final. He qualified for the money rounds Saturday morning by beating Middaugh in an A-side semifinal.
Gushue started Sunday with a 9-6 win over Jeff Steski and reached the final by beating Bryan Cochrane 9-5
