McEwen steadily making his mark

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/10/2010 (5654 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen could go a long way today in Portage la Prairie to stake his team’s claim as the new top men’s curling team in Manitoba.

McEwen, the runner-up to Jeff Stoughton at last year’s provincials, is undefeated heading into today’s playoff round at the $58,000 Canad Inns Prairie Classic and a victory in the final of the province’s richest men’s bonspiel would surely make a statement.

The McEwen foursome has been quietly building as a provincial force the past two winters and is considered among the top men’s teams in the country. Although they have yet to get to a Brier, this is now the their third bonspiel of the cashspiel season and the third time they have qualified for the playoffs.

The last two times — at B.C. bonspiels in Vernon and New Westminster — the team lost the quarter-final both times to defending world champion Kevin Koe of Alberta.

“That’s just the way it goes sometimes — you run into the top guy,” said McEwen. “I can’t complain. We’ve been qualifying and playing pretty well.”

It will be a difficult path again for McEwen today to the $15,000 first-place money. The other team still undefeated in the bonspiel is former world champion Glenn Howard of Ontario, who won the event in Portage three years in a row before Kerry Burtnyk took down the title last winter.

B-side qualifiers in Portage were former Jeff Stoughton third Kevin Park and China’s Xiaoming Xu. The other four qualifiers were to come late Sunday night in C-side qualifiers that featured Stoughton vs. Winnipeg’s Peter Nicholls; Brandon’s Rob Fowler vs. Stonewall’s Andy Stewart; Estevan’s Brent Gedak vs. Ottawa’s Mathew Camm and Winnipeg’s Scott Madams vs. Brandon’s Terry McNamee.

The quarter-finals are at 10 a.m. , the semifinals are at 2 p.m. and the final is at 6 p.m..

Meanwhile, there are three Manitoba teams still standing — and the potential of a dream matchup in the final — at the $60,000 Manitoba Lotteries Women’s Curling Classic at Fort Rouge Curling Club.

Winnipeg’s Chelsea Carey, Jennifer Jones and Cathy Overton-Clapham will all be on the ice at Fort Rouge at 10 a.m. this morning playing in the quarter-finals. Carey will play B.C.’s Kelly Scott, Jones will play Saskatchewan’s Stefanie Lawton and Overton-Clapham will play Ontario’s Sherry Middaugh. The other quarter-final will feature Alberta’s Renee Sonneberg and Heather Nedohin.

It is possible that Overton-Clapham — who was fired from the Jones foursome last spring in a bitter breakup — could get to face her three-time defending Canadian champion teammates today in what would be a tantalizing final. The final is scheduled to be played at 5 p.m..

Overton-Clapham was replaced at third on the Jones foursome by Kaitlyn Lawes for this season and Jones second Jill Officer said Sunday night that the reconfigured team, which qualified this weekend from the B-side, is still finding its stride.

“We’re playing pretty good. But we still have a few ends and a few shots here and there where we get away from what we do,” Officer said.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Ringer to the rescue

 

ARNOLD Asham brought in a well-known ringer and it paid off this weekend as the curling entrepreneur stole two in the final end to win the 22nd annual Lloyd Gunnlaugson Memorial Senior Bonspiel, 4-3 over Brandon’s Brian Fowler at Thistle Curling Club Sunday night.

Asham was supported in victory by former world champion Garry Vandenberghe, the long-time second for Jeff Stoughton who flew in from Vernon, B.C., to help out the Asham cause. The team was rounded out by Darryl Gunnlaugson — son of Lloyd — and Rae Tanner.

It wasn’t all bad news for the Fowler family, however. Lois Fowler — Brian’s wife — won the senior women’s event, defeating Fort Garry’s Deborah Popovic 7-2 in the final.