‘Ridiculous’ frosty ice puts chill on McEwen’s winning streak

By: Paul Wiecek Posted: 6:36 PM CST Thursday, Mar. 10, 2016

OTTAWA — Mike McEwen stressed he’s not blaming the ice conditions.

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OTTAWA — Mike McEwen stressed he’s not blaming the ice conditions.

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This article was published 10/03/2016 (3823 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Mike McEwen stressed he’s not blaming the ice conditions.

But he also made it clear frosty ice conditions at TD Place have degenerated to the point of “ridiculous” and played a role in Manitoba’s 8-5 loss to Northern Ontario at the Tim Hortons Brier Thursday afternoon.

“Everything was over-curling on us. Everything. It was frosty yesterday, but it’s getting to the point where it’s kind of ridiculous,” McEwen said Thursday afternoon.

Adrian Wyld / The Canadian Press
Team Manitoba lead Denni Neufeld, third B.J. Neufeld, skip Mike McEwen and second Matt Wozniak talk during round robin competition against Team Northern Ontario at the Brier curling championship Thursday. — Adrian Wyld / The Canadian Press Team Manitoba lead Denni Neufeld, third B.J. Neufeld, skip Mike McEwen and second Matt Wozniak talk during round robin competition against Team Northern Ontario at the Brier curling championship Thursday.

“You hate to see this in a national championship. But there’s not much we can do about it.”

Warm weather and rain that has rolled into the National Capital Region the last two days has wreaked havoc with the Brier ice and there’s not much anyone can do about it because the arena here is old — even though the complex that surrounds it is new — and the facility lacks the industrial size dehumidifiers that are standard equipment in modern arenas.

The result is a competition that is now all about which team makes the best adjustments. And that team continues to be Northern Ontario, who improved to 9-0 with the win over Manitoba and have now clinched a berth in Friday’s 1 vs 2 Page playoff game against Newfoundland, who clinched their own 1-2 berth with a win over PEI Thursday that improved them to 9-1.

“Team Jacobs — hat’s off to them,” said McEwen. “Whatever they’re doing as far as how they’re throwing it, they are handling the ice. Look at their record, they’re handling the ice really well.

“We got caught too many times today with over-curling. We didn’t have a rock undercurl, I don’t think. We’ve got to adapt a little better because the ice is what it is and we’re not going to be able to change it.”

The loss to Jacobs snapped a four-game winning streak for Manitoba and dropped their round-robin record to 6-3. While McEwen’s hopes of making the 1-2 game are now extinguished, he can still clinch a berth in the 3-4 game with a win in either of his final two round-robin games — Thursday night against Quebec (4-5) or Friday morning against PEI (2-8).

Alberta at 7-3 has clinched the other berth in the 3 vs 4 game. Manitoba lost to Alberta during the round-robin.

email: paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek