Mike McEwen chosen as top seed for men’s curling championship in Brandon

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This article was published 28/01/2015 (4237 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen foursome has been named the top seed for next month’s Manitoba men’s curling championship in Brandon.

McEwen was unveiled as the top seed for the Safeway Championship at a news conference Wednesday morning at the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame.

Eleven-time Manitoba men’s curling champion Jeff Stoughton was named as the second seed, followed by the Reid Carruthers foursome as the third seed. The Top 5 were rounded out by fourth seed William Lyburn and fifth seed Sean Grassie.

The seeds are voted upon by the 32 competing teams and the naming of McEwen as the top seed in an event that has been dominated by Stoughton for two decades is a monument to the spectacular cash spiel season the McEwen team has enjoyed this winter.

The McEwen team is currently ranked first in both the country and the world and has enjoyed a historic cash spiel season that has seen the team – third BJ Neufeld, second Matt Wozniak and lead Denni Neufeld – win six out of eight tour events.

But if he wins in Brandon, it would be the first provincial men’s title for a McEwen foursome that has lost four finals and a semi-final at the provincials since 2010.

“I’m never going to throw out guarantees or absolutes,” McEwen said after the news conference. “But I think it’s easy for us to say – and probably a lot of people who watch us – that we’re in the best state that we’ve ever been. Ever.

“And so if that translates into a championship, we’d be pure enjoyment out there to do that.”

McEwen has lost three provincial finals and a semi-final to Stoughton at the Safeway Championship. Stoughton did not appear at Wednesday’s news conference but his lead, Connor Njegovan, said the first-year team is feeling confident heading into an event that their 51-year-old skip has dominated like no other.

“When we formed this team last year, the goal was to represent Manitoba at the Brier. And we’ve focussed all our efforts towards the provincials, for sure, because we don’t know how long Jeff is going to keep playing.

“So we want to keep him happy. And the way to keep Jeff happy is to represent Manitoba.”

While the dominant storyline in Brandon will once again be on the McEwen-Stoughton rivalry, Carruthers – a 2011 world champion second with Stoughton – also poses a serious threat to win after a cash spiel season that saw his new team ranked fourth in Canada.

“We love the spot we’re in,” said Carruthers. “We had some goals coming into this year and we’re doing better than we hoped. And we know that we have the guys who can win this event.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek