Gunnlaugson into final by applying the pressure

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This article was published 08/02/2020 (2284 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jason Gunnlaugson heaved his stones with precision and might Saturday night to topple a giant.

The seasoned skip guided his Morris curling team to an 8-6 triumph over defending Manitoba men’s champion Mike McEwen of West St. Paul to gain entry to today’s Viterra final.

The event’s marquee matchup to date, featuring the event’s top seeds, was nothing short of electrifying, with a houseful of rocks seemingly in every end. Full marks to Gunnlaugson’s crew of third Alex Forrest, second Adam Casey and lead Connor Njegovan for applying pressure throughout the 10-end affair, forcing McEwen into some uncomfortable situations.

He wiggled out of some. But not enough. Down by one in the final end, McEwen, a three-time Manitoba titleist, was left with a challenging draw to the button that settled just short.

Gunnlaugson, who lost Friday morning to Ryan Wiebe’s terrific junior team from St. Vital before rattling off four consecutive wins, heaped credit on his teammates for being the architects of the upset victory.

“Mike definitely outplayed me… but my team played great and put a ton of pressure on. If you make him make hard enough shots all the time, eventually you might get a half shot and that’s kinda what happened,” he said.

“Every end is basically terrifying. We could have given up three, four at different times this game. It really comes down to the execution.”

McEwen, the world’s fifth-ranked foursome, could rise up and prove just as menacing this afternoon. But his savvy, battle-tested team of third Reid Carruthers, second Derek Samagalski and lead Colin Hodgson needs to get past Sean Grassie of Deer Lodge first.

Grassie and McEwen play in the 8:30 a.m. semifinal, with the championship game set for 2:30 p.m. Both contests will be televised on Sportsnet. The winner join a starry field — Kevin Koe, Brad Jacobs, Brad Gushue and John Epping to name a few — at the Brier in Kingston, Ont., Feb. 29 to March 8.

Due to their lofty standings on the Canadian Team Ranking System, McEwen and Gunnlaugson each has the Brier wild-card game in their back pockets if they require it.

“I thought they played as a unit very well. Jay made some big shots, too. I made a couple when it was looking like disaster out there and I needed one more in the 10th,” McEwen offered, in a post-game chat. “I thought they put a lot of pressure on us. Full credit. We almost pulled it out of the fire.”.

An apparent tectonic shift in momentum occurred in the seventh with Gunnlaugson up 5-3. He tried to hit and flop on top of a pair of McEwen stones but rolled a shade deep. McEwen then played a delicate bump of his own rock to move a Gunnlaugson stone just enough for a huge count of three and a 6-5 lead.

But facing a rock quarry in the four-foot, Gunnlaugson coolly drew in to take two and leap in front 7-6 after 8 ends. McEwen then blank the 9th, but face a near-impossible draw to dislodge a Gunnlaugson counter coming home.

“We just work so hard. I feel like maybe I’ve underperformed a few times in this event and I really worked hard to just mentally be in a great space to play. Definitely that was the case today and, hopefully, it’s the case (on Sunday),” said Gunnlaugson.

Grassie shrugged off a major shift in momentum in his game with Granite’s William Lyburn to score a single point in an extra end for a 6-5 win to reach the semifinal. Lyburn had used the hammer in the 10th to chip his own stone into the 12-foot and then rolled his shooter into the 12-foot on the opposite side to count two and tie things up.

McEwen has already defeated Grassie in two previous meetings this week.

“Maybe it will be our turn (Sunday),” said Grassie, who lost the 2013 Manitoba final to Jeff Stoughton in Neepawa. “I think the guys are just thrilled to be in this position. There’s no pressure on us. No one expects us to win so I think we’ll be loose and just keep playing the way we’re playing.”

He’s joined on the team by third Tyler Drews, second Daryl Evans and lead Rodney Legault.

In the afternoon draw, Brandon’s Steve Irwin pushed Lyburn to the 10th end before falling 8-7 to exit the championship. Wiebe had his impressive run skid to a stop after an 8-5 loss to Grassie.

No. 3-seed Tanner Horgan of Winnipeg Beach and Jacques Gauthier of Assiniboine Memorial were sent packing Saturday morning.

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All-stars named

The Viterra championship all-star awards were given to McEwen, third Daley Peters of the Lyburn foursome, Evans and Njegovan.

Lyburn was presented with the Pat Spiring Memorial Award, given annually to the curler at the Viterra championship who “exemplifies excellence combined with competitive spirit, love of the game, and respect for the spirit and traditions of curling.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell