McEwen taking the long road

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This article was published 10/03/2017 (3442 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — There’s a feeling something magical is happening for Team Gushue and every curling fan on The Rock.

The skip won’t even entertain the notion. But every delicate draw, flop behind cover or torpedo-like double-takeout they tried, skip Brad Gushue and his Newfoundland-Labrador teammates made them all Friday night.

Gushue and his talented crew of third Mark Nichols, second Brett Gallant and lead Geoff Walker have booked a place in the 2017 Brier final, set for Sunday at 5:30 p.m. CT.

They defeated Manitoba’s Mike McEwen 7-5 in the 1 vs. 2 Page playoff game at the Canadian men’s curling championship in front of nearly 6,000 raucous fans at Mile One Centre.

Both teams finished the seven-day, 12-team round robin with 9-2 records, although McEwen was awarded top spot and hammer in the first end of the playoff because he beat Gushue earlier in the week.

The loss bounced McEwen, and teammates Denni Neufeld, BJ Neufeld and Matt Wozniak, to today’s semifinal, set for 5:30 p.m. CT, against either Kevin Koe’s Team Canada or Northern Ontario. Koe and Jacobs, both with 8-3 records, collide in the 3 vs. 4 game today at 12:30 p.m. CT

Gushue, a 36-year-old curler and local entrepreneur, was instrumental in getting the local Brier bid off the ground, he’s been the face of the event on all marketing materials and, fortunately for everyone with a stake in it, won a 14th provincial title and berth in the national championship.

Gushue’s got a gold medal from the 2006 Winter Olympics. He’s still missing a Brier crown.

Team of destiny? The skipper himself blows off any suggestion something bigger is propelling the squad to the Holy Grail of Canadian men’s curling.

“We’re good and we can make those shots. We’ve been making them all year,” he said. “I don’t believe in any destiny or anything special. I think we’re a good team and we’ve won events, big events, in the past. We can make all the shots that we call, and (Friday) we made a heck of a lot of them and, hopefully, we do the same thing on Sunday.”

St. John’s favourite sons were decisive and precise, using the hammer with might while hindering the Winnipeggers’ opportunities to generate offence. The final numbers showed it almost wasn’t a fair fight.

Gushue, tossed a near-perfect game, registering a 95 shooting accuracy. As a team, Newfoundland-Labrador shot the lights out, posting a combined 94 per cent, compared to Manitoba’s 82 per cent accuracy rating.

Gushue, who lived up to his selection as the Brier’s first-team all-star skip. said he’s just soaking up every moment here at home.

“After the game, to see the amount of fans that stuck around for a couple of songs, it was pretty cool. It was a great atmosphere,” he said. “I wanted to enjoy it because the older you get, the more you enjoy it.

“Someone just asked me how this compares to the Olympics and I said it’s probably as good or better, because I’m older now and I appreciate it. When I was 25, I thought I was gonna win a bunch of these. But I realize it’s a harder game over the last number of years.”

McEwen said the loss was a setback but doesn’t alter the main objective of their second Brier appearance.

“We stayed as united as we ever have these past two months coming together as a team, and that didn’t change. We threw a lot of quality shots out there, but the margins of error were so small with how well they were playing. We would have had to have been very close to perfect to beat them,” said the McEwen.

“We certainly weren’t dictating the game because they were playing so well, from lead to skip.”

The Fort Rouge skip was the low man on his squad at 76 per cent.

“I’m really not that worried. Some of the throws that I saw from the guys in front of me — and even some of the shots that didn’t work out for myself — there was a lot of quality out there and I think that can turn into a ‘W’ (on Saturday),” said McEwen, who was 8-3 in his Brier debut in 2016 in Ottawa, losing the 3 vs. 4 game to Koe.

“This is a really good test for us to see how comfortable we are in this environment. I’ve never felt better in a big game than I did (Friday).”

Gushue used last rock effectively, scoring deuces in the second and fourth ends to take a 4-2 lead. McEwen blanked the fifth and sixth ends, and then surrendered a crucial steal when he threw into a pile and tried to spill two of his yellow stones in but left Gushue counting one.

A perfect little roll by the Newfoundland-Labrador skip made McEwen’s last attempt virtually unmakeable.

“In the seventh end, where he rolled to, you couldn’t take the rock by hand and place it any better,” said McEwen. “It’s one of those things where he makes a perfect shot where we thought we had two. Hats off to him.”

A perfect hit-and-roll behind cover set up a score of two for Manitoba to trim the lead in the eighth end. But Gushue stormed right back, orchestrating a deuce in the ninth, and then ran McEwen out of rocks in 10.

Gushue, who lost the 2016 Brier final to Koe, said he won’t be anywhere near the rink today.

“Lots of rehab,” he said, when asked the team’s plans for the day off. “We’re a hurtin’ unit right now. Geoff’s in a little bit of discomfort and we’ll get some rest and be ready for Sunday. We’ll enjoy it, I’ll spend time with family. I won’t watch any curling. I haven’t watched any shots this week. I’ll find out probably Sunday morning who won and be ready to go.”

Earlier in the day, McEwen posted a 5-2 victory over Jean-Michel Ménard of Quebec to finish the round robin in first place.

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