One for the bucket list

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This article was published 08/11/2010 (5738 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

 

WINDSOR, Ont. — Mike McEwen has one less item on his bucket list.

The Manitoba curling rink, skipped by McEwen, had listed winning a major tournament as one of their goals this season, they just didn’t think it would come in the year’s first Grand Slam event.

McEwen’s crew looked remarkably calm in their first slam final, edging former world champion Jeff Stoughton 4-2 Sunday at the WFCU Centre.

Stoughton’s last-rock draw attempt in the final end proved a tad heavy, allowing McEwen to steal one and the Grey Power World Cup of Curling winner’s cheque of $23,000.

“It’s exciting it got checked off so early in the season,” the 30-year-old McEwen said. “We might have to add a couple more things to the (bucket) list.”

He also hopes his rink’s victory was the announcement of their arrival as consistent winners among the game’s elite.

Certainly fellow Manitoban Jeff Stoughton has no doubt it does.

“He’s going to be the guy out of Manitoba for the next 10 years,” said Stoughton, a two-time Brier winner. “They’ve put a ton of work in.

“Great young team. Great shotmakers.

“They’re right on the cusp of being one of the great teams in Canada.”

Stoughton was handicapped by having an unsettled rink to start the game.

His third Jon Mead had to leave Sunday morning for a business trip to Hong Kong and the rink recruited Toronto’s Greg Balsdon overnight Saturday.

Balsdon acquitted himself quite well, but Stoughton said it forced his rink to play a little more conservatively in the early going until Balsdon got used to the ice.

“It changed big time at the start,” Stoughton said.

“We like to be very aggressive at the start and we just wanted to get Greg a few throws in.

“It changed the way we like to start, but once he got comfortable we just went for it like any other game.”

However, by that time Stoughton was already chasing McEwen, who stole one in the second end.

“That’s (steals) been huge for us throughout the playoffs,” McEwen said.

“We haven’t had hammer for four or five games and I think we stole points to start every game. That’s been huge getting control of the game early.”

After much bumping and grinding in the third end, Stoughton was forced to settle for one by drawing to the button to tie the score.

Stoughton made a fine shot to clean up a bit of a mess in the fourth, leaving him with three rocks counting and McEwen down to his last stone.

However, as was the case all afternoon, the young skip met the challenge with perfect draw weight to reclaim a 2-1 lead.

The 47-year-old Stoughton went for another multiple-point end in the fifth by attempting a raise takeout.

However, it didn’t quite come off forcing him to settle for one and losing the hammer.

After blanking the sixth, Stoughton forced McEwen to draw for one in the seventh with another perfect draw- weight shot in the face of two opposing rocks counting.

“We made some key shots at the right time when it looked like we might be in trouble (at risk of) giving up a multiple-point end,” McEwen said.

“We were really happy with how the defence was today.”

Trailing 3-2 in the eighth, Stoughton looked like he had something cooking with three stones in the house and plenty of guards in play.

McEwen’s third B.J. Neufeld made a pair of great shots to tidy up the mess.

After McEwen bumped Stoughton’s shot rock out of the house, the veteran had to draw to the button to force extra ends.

Stoughton’s front end jumped on the stone quickly with a quick burst of sweeping before backing off and then watching it slide inches too long.

“They feel bad because they feel they may have over swept it,” Stoughton said.

“The line was fine. It just didn’t grind like it normally does at the end.”

— Postmedia News