Carruthers’ chance of defending title hits rough patch

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This article was published 07/02/2019 (2738 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VIRDEN — The defending Manitoba men’s curling champions have been forced to take the long road to the playoffs.

Reid Carruthers, the No.1 seed, suffered a 9-5 defeat to Brandon’s Terry McNamee this afternoon — just their second game of the 2019 Viterra provincial men’s championship.

Team Carruthers, with Mike McEwen skipping, Derek Samagalski at second and Colin Hodgson at lead, simply couldn’t get a handle on the ice and were guilty of far too many misses. The team needs three consecutive wins on the B side to advance to the eight-team playoff round.

Carruthers faces either Tyler Drews of Fort Rouge or Jeff Stewart of Gladstone tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Tundra Oil & Gas Place.

McNamee’s crew of third Brendan Taylor, second Georgie Hargreaves and lead Travis Gouldie were rock solid, posting a huge four in the third end to jump in front 5-1. Down 7-4 after the seventh, McEwen tried a tough angle ‘in-off’ across house and had to settle for only a single to trail by two after eight. McNamee put the cap on the upset with a ninth-end deuce.

“They played really well. They put some pressure on us by getting off to a good start,” said Carruthers. “They forced us (to a single in the second end), then it was a disaster end and a bit of a comeback end, but overall I felt like we were a bit inconsistent with our throws and our releases, so we’ll have to talk about it as a team and regroup because we play again tonight.”

McNamee, a five-time Manitoba mixed champion, said ice conditions changed during the contest, and his crew was able to adjust to a more softer surface.

“It did change, for sure, and I think we adapted to it better than they did,” he said. “They were playing lots of touch shots, so it’s kind of hard to throw draws and stuff like that when the ice is like that. We were playing hits, so it’s easier to do that.

“This is my 23rd time here, so I guess you learn some things over the years. We’re very comfortable playing ice like this, where it curls and it’s fast, and we judge rocks pretty good like that, too.”

A year ago, McNamee was hammered 11-1 by Carruthers at the exact same point in the draw.

But this version of Carruthers’ West St. Paul team has a vastly different makeup. McEwen hooked up with Carruthers, Samagalski and Hodgson last spring after 11 years skipping his squad. The foursome has had some ups and downs in its first season together, and needs to rebound in a hurry here.

“Let’s see what we’re made of. We’re gonna see that,” said McEwen. “I’m not too worried about it, to be honest. We’re either gonna play well and do well or we’re gonna play badly and not go far.

“There’s no reason why we can’t play well when we need to. This is one of those times.”

McNamee moves into an A-side qualifying game Friday at 8:30 a.m. and will play Corey Chambers of Lorette. In other qualifying games in the morning, it’s: No. 2 seed Jason Gunnlaugson vs. Ryan Thomson of Morden; William Lyburn of the Granite vs. Braden Calvert of Assiniboine-Memorial; and, Tanner Lott of Winnipeg Beach vs. Dennis Bohn of Assiniboine-Memorial.

The Viterra runs to Sunday, with the televised finale (Sportsnet) — and a berth to the Brandon Brier on the line — at 2:30 p.m.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell