Curler notches tweet victories  

By DOUG GRAHAM
THE WHIG-STANDARD
February 5, 2010
 

Bryan Cochrane is whistling while he works at making a return trip to the Canadian men's curling championship.

The skip of the Ottawa Rideau rink, who has a throat condition that prevents him from barking instructions, uses a whistle and sharp, short tweets to direct front-end brushers Colin Dow and John Steski.

The tweets have been right on this week for Cochrane, who has a shot at finishing second in the round-robin behind heavy favourite Glenn Howard of Coldw at e r at the Ontario men's championship at the Strathcona Paper Centre.

The whistle became a necessary tool for Cochrane more than 25 years ago after he was diagnosed with a form of laryngitis.

"It's like little warts on my vocal cords," said Cochrane, who has a 7-1 record at the Tankard this week and has booked a playoff spot for the weekend.

To try to correct the throat problem, Cochrane had four operations when he was four years old. The issue cleared up for 23 years but made a surprising return and threatened to cause Cochrane to lose his voice permanently.

As a result, he has to go for regular surgery.

"It has been a real pain in the neck. I had my 34th surgery in August," Cochrane said.

"It's no fun."

A principal at Russell High School, Cochrane, 52, would not have been able to continue curling unless he found a way to direct his brushers. The Ontario Curling Association cleared him to use the whistle, and when he went to the Brier in 2003, he got the green light from the Canadian Curling Association.

"I don't try to over-blow it," Cochrane said. "Just little tweets here and there."

Cochrane, who almost advanced to his first Ontario men's final in 1982 when he was attending teachers college at Queen's University and curling with Kingston's Terry Corbin, said he almost walked away from curling after another operation 10 years ago.

In 2003, when he got to the Brier with his longtime third Bill Gamble, he came away with a renewed zest to keep playing.

"When I got to the Brier, it gave me a new lease on my curling life," Cochrane said. "I took a step back and saw the enthusiasm in the crowd, the people coming from all across Canada, people standing in line to get your autograph. It is a real special event.

"I wish everyone could get the chance to get to go play in the Brier. It was really neat and something I'm glad I had a chance to do."

The Cochrane rink has experience on its side. Third Rich Moffatt skipped in the 1999 Brier. He has been outstanding this week for Cochrane.

"Rich had the experience that brings out the quality shots," Cochrane said.

"This is our third year together and we're sort of on the same page. He has good ideas. He's a good third who supports the skip. "

Typical of the way the two work was in the fifth end of yesterday's 8-3 win over Arnprior's Chris Gardner. When Cochrane put the broom down for the ice on an in-turn draw, there was a little hand motion from the far hack from Moffatt. Cochrane immediately gave his third inches more ice and Moffatt made a perfect draw.

"I'm going to put the broom down, but he knows I want to hear from him, too," Cochrane said.

"We are playing aggressively enough that when someone makes a mistake, we can pounce on it."