(by Larry Wood).
Ontario’s Glenn Howard, resplendent with a night off at the Tim Hortons Brier on Wednesday, was left atop the leaderboard when Manitoba’s Rob Fowler upended Alberta’s Kevin Koe 8-5, thereby temporarily solidifying the top three placings heading into the last day of round-robin play.
Odds-on favourites to claim three of the four post-preliminary playoff berths, 2007 champion Ontario ended the day at 8-and-1, 2010 champion Alberta was 7-2 and upstart Manitoba, the defending champion province, was 6-and-3.
Draw 14 action at the 2012 Tim Hortons Brier.
(Photo: CCA/Michael Burns Photography)
But the Brier demands a minimum of four playoff teams and that’s where the issue became interesting heading into Thursday’s draws.
At 5-4 with two to go were Jamie Koe’s Polars, on a three-game losing skein, and Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie.
Still with an outside crack at a tiebreaker at 4-5 were Terry Odishaw of Moncton, Jamie Murphy of CFB Halifax and B.C.’s Jim Cotter.
Fowler, with Allan Lyburn, Richard Daneault and Derek Samagalski, was reminded the victory left his team in contention for a possible berth in the Page One-Two playoff on Friday night with a berth in the championship final at stake.
“We proved in our provincial playdowns any playoff position would be an opportunity for us to finish the deal, so we’ll do what it takes and take Thursday’s games one at a time,” Fowler said.
Koe was tight-lipped with his reaction to the evening’s proceedings.
“It was a struggle, they played well,” he said. “We were a little off and that’s what happens when you play good teams. We won’t worry about it too much.”
Koe earlier defeated his brother’s Territories team 11-3 in the morning.
Fowler doubled the Territories 10-5 in the afternoon.
Ontario’s Howard, meanwhile, doubled up on B.C.’s Jim Cotter 8-4 in the morning, then defeated Mike Gaudet’s Prince Edward Islanders 10-5 in the afternoon.
“So far, so good,” said Howard, who finishes his round-robin run against Alberta at 6:30 p.m. tonight.
Gaudet continued his giant-killing ways by rallying from a 4-2 deficit to defeat Vernon’s Cotter 7-5.
Yellowknife’s Koe, meanwhile, was left to wonder where thee week’s early magic has gone.
“That’s exactly how it feels,” he said, when asked if the touch has slipped away.
“We’ll try to figure out what’s gone wrong and regroup for tomorrow.”
The home-province Saskatchewan crew of Scott Manners continued to run into a flurry of bad luck, dropping a 9-8 decision to Odishaw and a 10-6 duke to Gushue. A couple of three-enders swamped Manners in the afternoon, who dropped to 2-7 and last in the field.
Odishaw still was hoping to win out and wedge into a tiebreaker of some sort.
“I think we’re in full survival mode right now and we’re entertaining as usual, leaving some rocks in play,” Odishaw said with a laugh.
“But the approach is the same, it doesn’t change. Keep our fingers crossed and hope to make the shots.”
Nova Scotia’s playoff hopes took a turn for the worst when skip Murphy flashed a last-rock double which accounted for a 7-6 loss to Quebec’s Desjardins.
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