Both ‘Toba teams advance at Brier

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This article was published 07/03/2018 (2961 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

REGINA — Manitoba’s pre-eminent men’s curling teams — separated by a contentious Brier format this week at Brandt Centre — will get reaquainted Friday night.

Team Manitoba, led by Reid Carruthers, and Team Wild Card, with Mike McEwen at the helm, have both progressed to the eight-team championship round at the Canadian men’s curling championship.

McEwen (5-2) finished third in Pool A, while Carruthers (5-2) settled for the same spot in Pool B. Teams take their preliminary records with them as they cross over and play the four teams from the other pool. 

The Manitoba skips are close buddies off the ice. On the ice, they’ve waged some tremendous battles. But they’ll need to string together some victories before hooking up.

Adding losses at this stage and Page playoffs hopes evaporate.

“For the first round robin, we wanted to have two losses at the absolute max. I’d hoped we would have ran through undefeated but we had some really good moments in the first half and now the games get tougher,” said Carruthers.

Brendan Bottcher of Alberta (6-1), Brad Gushue of Team Canada (6-1) and Jamie Murphy of Nova Scotia (4-3) also qualified through Pool A, while Brad Jacobs of Northern Ontario (6-1), John Epping of Ontario (6-1) and Steve Laycock of Saskatchewan (4-3) qualified through Pool B.

Carruthers begins against Gushue today at 2 p.m, then battles Alberta on the 7 p.m. draw. On Friday, his West St. Paul squad meets Nova Scotia at 2 p.m. and then McEwen in the evening.

“We haven’t seen those guys all week, so you don’t really know how they’re playing. I’ve watched a bit of the games on TV, so I have a feel of what to expect. But then again these are guys that we’ve played before. I expect what I always expect from them — guys making great shots. For us, I know if we play really well, there’s no one I’m afraid of.”

McEwen plays Ontario at 2 p.m. Thursday, Northern Ontario at 7 p.m. and Saskatchewan the next day at 2 p.m. before the Friday evening match against Carruthers.

“We just have to try and go 3-1. That’s a goal. If we can do better, that’s better. (It’s) not much different than if we were looking in December (at the Olympic Trials in Ottawa) at this lineup of teams, we’d say we need to go 3-1 against that group,” McEwen said.

The scenario here mirrors the national Scotties when Manitoba women’s champ Jennifer Jones and Kerri Einarson (Wild Card) cracked the round of eight. Ultimately, both Mantoba squads made the final, setting the stage for Jones’ sixth Canadian title.

McEwen and Carruthers shuffle into the championship round with some shaky confidence after stinging defeats to close out the preliminary round.

A pick on McEwen’s last rock ruined a draw for one in the fifth end and handed Alberta a steal of two Wednesday night. Then, staring at five Alberta stones, McEwen attempted a draw for his single but despite the best efforts of broomsmen Denni Neufeld and Matt Wozniak, his stone stopped short and Bottcher’s Edmonton team stole five.

It ended 9-2 after eight ends, a sixth straight triumph for Alberta.

“What it really came down to was a bad pick. We sort of lost control of the game. It was perfect T-line weight and it picked, steal of two and the air went right out of it. It’s tough,” said McEwen.

“They were playing well at that time, but we would have been ahead on the scoreboard, kind of controlling the game. I was making pretty much everything at that point as far as draws, then I miss one on the next end and it’s game over.” 

McEwen knocked off Newfoundland-Labrador 6-2 in the morning draw.

On the 2 p.m. draw, Carruthers fell 6-3 to Jacobs. A draw with a little too much heat in the fifth end gifted the Jacobs team a steal of a pair and a 4-2 lead heading to the break — a pivotal miscue, said Carruthers.

“We were a little deflated and couldn’t rebound against a really good hitting team,” he said.

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“When I let it go, I figured I slid too hard and didn’t give the sweepers a chance. On its own, the sweepers (Derek Samagalski and Colin Hodson) didn’t really lay any licks to it and it was already too heavy. Just a little bit of a mental error not hitting my hack speed, like how hard I was wanting to slide.” 

Friday night’s McEwen vs. Carruthers tilt is a rematch of the Viterra provincial men’s championship finale last month in Winkler. Battling chicken pox, McEwen was released from hospital and was a surprise player in the marquee matchup, However, Carruthers posted a last-rock 6-5 win.

One of the country’s top squads, the McEwen team had a second chance already in the bank — a spot in last Friday’s wild-card game with fellow Winnipegger Jason Gunnlaugson. McEwen prevailed and assumed the Team Wild Card tag.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell