Brier fate in McEwen’s hands

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This article was published 09/03/2017 (3337 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Manitoba’s Mike McEwen has handled the frenetic energy from the crowd and the raw emotions from within at the 2017 Brier this week.

The Winnipeg skip needs to manage another major test of nerves this morning.

McEwen has a tiebreaker spot sewn up at the Canadian men’s curling championship but can strengthen his status immensely with a positive result against a resilient Quebec crew in the 7:30 a.m. draw.

Manitoba won its eighth game of the week Thursday night, to go with a pair of losses. Finishing 9-2 would lock up a spot in the 1 vs. 2 Page playoff game against Brad Gushue’s hometown heroes.

Rebounding from a difficult 6-3 afternoon defeat to defending champion Kevin Koe and Team Canada, McEwen stormed out to an 8-3 triumph over Glenn Howard of Ontario in the evening, before about 5,600 boisterous spectators at Mile One Centre.

McEwen’s team of third B.J. Neufeld, second Matt Wozniak and lead Denni Neufeld threw a nifty 91 per cent as a team against the hall-of-famer and his team from Toronto.

“Just to have an opportunity to win (Friday) morning and get into the 1-2 game is just tremendous,” he said. “You can’t ask for anything more than that. It’s a long week, and we’ve started to climb up again as far as our performance, so feel really, really positive going into Friday right now.”

Earlier in the week, they found themselves facing uphill climbs in games against New Brunswick, British Columbia and Northern Ontario, managing scrappy comebacks against Mike Kennedy of Fredericton and Brad Jacobs’ stellar crew from Sault Ste. Marie.

McEwen said those were character-building moments.

“We’re really aware of our ups and downs right now. We know where we need to be as far as when we’re operating at a high level,” he said. “We’ve been able to do that for a lot of these games this week, and, when we haven’t, we’ve been able to check ourselves and find our way back to it.

“That’s half the battle, knowing how to get to your peak performance, and I think we’re aware of what we need to do.”

Meanwhile, the boys from The Rock have reserved a spot in the 1 vs. 2 contest.

With thousands of red-clad fans standing nervously, Gushue of Newfoundland-Labrador calmly drew to back button against two Team Canada rocks to seize a 7-6 extra-end triumph and move to 8-2 as well.

Gushue faces Nova Scotia’s Jamie Murphy in the morning, but win or lose he finishes in the top two.

“The adrenaline’s going pretty good. That’s the loudest roar I think I’ve ever heard. That was fun,” said Gushue, who has handled the pressure of being the face of this Brier since the moment he captured the province’s men’s crown.

He’s never won, despite 13 previous Brier appearances.

Gushue, with third Marc Nichols, second Brett Gallant and lead Geoff Walker, was 3-2 after Monday’s play, but now has a five-game winning streak going strong.

“It’s good to have it our own hands, for sure,” said the 2006 Olympic champion. “It’s actually been in our own hands for a while, the problem was we had to win five or six in a row. It was a pretty daunting task, but we’ve been playing good, steady, and we’ve been getting breaks, too.

“We expected to be here, even though we got off to rough start.”

‘That’s half the battle, knowing how to get to your peak performance, and I think we’re aware of what we need to do’– Manitoba skip Mike McEwen

Gushue quickly surrendered a three-ender to Koe, but clawed back, eventually forcing the 2016 world champion to make his last shot of the 10th to force an extra end.

“For us, if you’re going to give up three, it was a perfect time to do it,” he said. “I stressed to the guys before the first end, ‘Let’s be patient.’ We had to stay alive. It’s a good character win for us.”

A few sheets over, Manitoba registered deuces in the third and fifth ends to lead Ontario 4-1 at the fifth-end break, gave up a single in the sixth and then scored a crushing four in the seventh.

Wozniak said managing the timing of their shots around the deafening noise of the crowd has been key.

“The officials are giving you time, if you’re not playing against them, to let everything calm down before you shoot,” said Wozniak. “So, I think we’re used to it. We’re in a good groove. It’s probably gonna get louder, but how much louder can it get?

“I think we’re all accustomed to it. It’s pretty surreal. I think when all of us look back on this one later, we’ll realize how insane this place got at times.”

Koe and Quebec’s Jen-Michelle Menard share 7-3 records and have opportunities to at least gain entry into tiebreakers, as does John Morris of B.C. (7-4).

Four teams at the conclusion of the round robin this morning advance to the Page playoffs, but tiebreakers, if warranted, would be played this afternoon.

The champion is crowned Sunday night.

“I can’t imagine it getting any louder, but maybe it can,” offered McEwen. “It’s been an interesting distraction to handle. It’s a challenge maybe not to many people in curling have ever faced before, other than maybe the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. I’m sure the international teams had to face that against Canada.

“That’s something we’ve never experienced, I think it’s amazing to have this kind of amplified atmosphere this crowd is bringing. It’s fun to play in, too. They’re tremendously excited about anything good for Newfoundland, but they’ve also been very respectful of what other teams are doing out there.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @WFPJasonBell