Middaugh wins tight match over Ferbey April 17, 2008 Wayne Middaugh had one of the toughest first games we've seen so far at the Players' championship. With Ferbey and Middaugh being the eighth and ninth seeded players, respectively, you can expect that this game would be a close one. It certainly started off that way. Randy Ferbey's squad from Edmonton, Alberta, got to start off with the hammer after winning a pre-game draw to the butotn. But Middaugh shut down that famous Ferbey offense, and forced Ferbey to blank the end. After that, Middaugh got away with steal of one in the second.

Photo by Brent Hayden

But Wayne wasn't done stealing points yet. He grabbed another one in the third to take a 2-0 lead over the multiple-time world champion. Ferbey finally got on the board in the fourth, when he managed to score a single point to pull within one.

After Middaugh grabbed one more point in the fifth, Ferbey tried to get some revenge for all those steals early on. After getting a single with the hammer in sixth, Ferbey continued to pressure Middaugh, and pulled off a steal in the seventh to tie the game up at 3-3 heading into the eighth and final end. But Middaugh would have the hammer, leaving Ferbey no choice but to go for another steal.

But it wasn't meant to be, as Middaugh finished the job by picking up the single point in the eighth end to capture his first win at this year's Players' Championship. Both teams played extremely well, with Team Ferbey averaging 80%, and Team Middaugh had a very impressive 89%.