Manitoba teams in good shape at Brier

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This article was published 06/03/2018 (3083 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

REGINA — It’s no great shock to see who’s waded into the deep end of Pool B of the 2018 Brier.

Manitoba’s Reid Carruthers is there, joined by Brad Jacobs of Northern Ontario and his provincial counterpart, John Epping, along with crowd-favourite Steve Laycock from Saskatchewan.

The four favourites from their half of the 16-team men’s national curling championship field are churning through to the championship round, even though they still have a game today in preliminary round-robin play.

With wins Tuesday evening, Manitoba, Ontario and Northern Ontario improved to 5-1, while Saskatchewan won its fourth straight and is 4-2.

Quebec (2-4), New Brunswick (2-4), Prince Edward Island (1-5) and Nunavut (0-6) also have one game left but won’t advance.

Carruthers was clobbered 10-5 by Epping in a morning game but rebounded with an efficient 7-3 win over James Grattan’s New Brunswick crew in the evening draw at Brandt Place.

The Brier’s No. 2 seed meets Jacobs in a crucial game today at 2 p.m. Records from the first round carry over, so the contenders can’t afford to sink now.

“Our goal was to get through the first round with two losses or better, so we’ve accomplished that. And we’ve got a chance to beat Jacobs, so getting in with just one loss is even better,” said Carruthers.

“We want to really build on this win (over Grattan) because it’s probably our best game as a team so far.”

Eight teams battle Thursday and Friday to determine the final four for the weekend’s Page playoff system.

But things are still a bit murky in Pool B, although Team Wild Card from Winnipeg is 4-1 and looking like a pretty safe bet to stick around for the weekend.

Mike McEwen’s Fort Rouge team rebounded from a difficult defeat Monday night, hammering Jamie Koe of Northwest Territories 10-3 in eight ends Tuesday afternoon.

Brad Gushue’s Team Canada tops the pool at 5-0, while Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher is tied with Team Wild Card at 4-1. In the chase for a tie-breaker are Koe and Jamie Murphy of Nova Scotia, both at 2-3.

McEwen battles Newfoundland-Labrador (1-4) this morning and Bottcher’s squad in the evening.

Carruthers’ West St. Paul team made effective use of the hammer against Grattan, posting deuces in the second, seventh and ninth ends, while preventing New Brunswick from orchestrating anything more than singles.

“The ice got a little bit quicker today and that tends to happen later in the week when the ice gets straighter. We didn’t do a good enough job recognizing that in the morning but we definitely did (in the evening). We drew so, so much better,” said Carruthers, who has Braeden Moskowy at third, second Derek Samagalski and lead Colin Hodgson.

Hodgson said matching up with the hard-throwing Jacobs foursome, the 2014 Olympic gold medallist, immediately gets the competitive juices flowing.

“It’s not a must-win game but we always have good battles against them. We’re good friends and it’s enjoyable to play them, and I’m sure we’ll come out firing.”

They’ll have to because the Sault Ste. Marie squad was deadly in a 7-3 triumph over a game Mike Fournier from Quebec. Jacobs created a highlight reel all his own with a fourth-end triple to snuff out a Quebec threat, and a raise double-takeout to count three in the sixth.

The Carruthers team defeated McEwen in the Manitoba final in early February in Winkler, but the former two-time champs made good use of their second chance to qualify for the Brier in last Friday’s wild-card contest.

McEwen said since they squeaked into event with a huge win over Jason Gunnlaugson of Winnipeg in the ‘play-in’ game, they haven’t been nearly as crisp as they’ll need to be in crunch time.

“This is trending that we are a little bit off,” said McEwen, who is flanked by third B.J. Neufeld and the front-end tandem of Matt Wozniak and Denni Neufeld. “So, even though this was a blowout (over Koe), we’re trying to be really precise because we’re going to need that later in the week.

“Sometimes, the best team Monday is not the best team Sunday. We’re hoping to be the best team Sunday. We still want to make precise shots even with a lead like that.”

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