McEwen still rolling along

Top seed, No. 2 Stoughton chasing playoff berths today

By: Tim Campbell Posted: 3:00 AM CST Friday, Feb. 6, 2015

BRANDON -- On a day when some of the challengers stumbled, the cream of the crop at the 2015 Safeway Championship were in clear control of their games to join group with the advantageous 2-0 record.

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BRANDON -- On a day when some of the challengers stumbled, the cream of the crop at the 2015 Safeway Championship were in clear control of their games to join group with the advantageous 2-0 record.

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BRANDON — On a day when some of the challengers stumbled, the cream of the crop at the 2015 Safeway Championship were in clear control of their games to join group with the advantageous 2-0 record.

Top-ranked Mike McEwen of Fort Rouge, who has been mowing down most rivals throughout the 2014-15 season, needed to play nine ends Thursday afternoon but was never really threatened in beating veteran Kelly Robertson of Neepawa 7-3 at Westman Place.

And defending champion Jeff Stoughton of Charleswood, bidding for an 11th Manitoba title with a new team, halted Mark Lukowitch’s Granite rink skipped by Steen Sigurdson by the count of 7-1 in seven ends. Stoughton is the week’s No. 2 seed.

Bruce Bumstead / Brandon Sun
Mike McEwen, who hammered Neepawa's Kelly Roberston 7-3 Thursday, takes on ninth-seeded Jared Kolomaya this morning. — Bruce Bumstead / Brandon Sun Mike McEwen, who hammered Neepawa's Kelly Roberston 7-3 Thursday, takes on ninth-seeded Jared Kolomaya this morning.

That dynamic duo will be on the ice this morning when four spots directly into the weekend’s playoff round will be available.

Joining them in that group will be two-time Canadian Junior champion Braden Calvert of Deer Lodge, who defeated No. 5 seed Sean Grassie, his clubmate, by the count of 7-3 in eight ends.

McEwen will face ninth seed Jared Kolomaya of Stonewall this morning; Stoughton meets seventh seed Daley Peters of West Kildonan; Calvert plays Pinawa’s Richard Muntain; and Carberry’s Kelly Marnoch and Granite’s Scott Ramsay face off in the other battle of 2-0 teams.

The losers in the match-up of 2-0 teams this morning will get a second chance to advance, moving over to the B side for an afternoon shot at the playoffs.

McEwen was clearly on form Thursday.

“Yeah. It was fun,” he said. “I had to make a lot of good draws. That was kind of nice to be able to do that. It’s what I need to own. That’s my job. So it felt good making lots of my last rocks even when the end didn’t quite go right.

“We’re kind of… it’s early in the event so we’re still getting into a bit of a groove but I like what I see so far.”

McEwen said he wasn’t paying much attention to the brackets and the struggles of other seeds.

“I don’t think it’s an advantage yet because I think probably most of those guys will get through on the B (side),” he said. “Until they’re not in the competition, then it’s probably not an advantage.”

Stoughton got involved in a conservative kind of game with Sigurdson but pounced when the opportunity presented itself. He stole three in the sixth and that was that.

“I missed a shot for two in the first end and then threw it in (the house to start) the second end and they decided to hit so we knew that was going to be over,” Stoughton said. “So the third end we threw it (a guard) up and he still kept on peeling, so he played pretty conservative and close to the chest early on.

“We finally got to force him there and had a great sixth end and stole three and just had perfect shots.”

Stoughton said he thought the morning struggles of high seeds was a good message for his team.

‘I had to make a lot of good draws. That was kind of nice to be able to do that. It’s what I need to own. That’s my job. So it felt good making lots of my last rocks even when the end didn’t quite go right’

— skip Mike McEwen

“I think they (those seeds) are a long way from being done,” he said. “And that was sort of a reminder for us that you can get beat at any time. You always have to be on your game and ready to go. Just like this one. It wasn’t like we were walking away with it early.

“Off it went and I don’t expect those (guys) to lose again but you never know.”

Calvert could quickly turn into a weekend darling if his momentum holds.

The 19-year-old, after traveling back from Newfoundland on Monday, complained of some jet lag on Wednesday but was far sharper on Thursday.

“Yeah, the guys came out and we were a lot more comfortable today with the ice,” he said, never in real trouble against Grassie. “We knew it a lot better. We just made a lot of shots today.

“It’s exciting to know we have a chance to qualify tomorrow. We’ve already maybe exceeding more expectations that we had put out for ourselves. It’s pretty exciting. We tried to just come in here with a pretty humble attitude and let our skills speak for themselves. Right now we’re just playing really well. We like how it’s going.”

His young team is clearly gathering confidence.

“It’s pretty neat to be here among the province’s best,” Calvert said. “We’re just kind of taking it all in, trying to learn from some of the older, more experienced teams, just talking to them in the change rooms and around the ice. We’re just trying to learn a lot and take whatever we can from this experience.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca