Knee surgery, lots of rest and rehab has McEwen playing rock-solid at Brier

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This article was published 01/03/2020 (2358 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

KINGSTON, Ont — Mike McEwen stepped onto the ice in September and immediately wondered if he had the support to remain one of Canada’s premier curlers.

A surgically repaired left knee certainly didn’t feel ready to go, the tuck-sliding Winnipeg skip recalled Sunday afternoon at the Brier national men’s championship.

McEwen had the procedure done at the end of May and listened to his doctor’s orders of rest, rest and more rest, followed by an intense rehab routine. His West St. Paul team went about its business, enlisting the help of Daley Peters to fill in at third while Reid Carruthers moved up to skip at two World Curling Tour events in late August and September.

Those were frustrating days, indeed, as he began, rather gingerly, sliding from the hack again, with a goal of being fit for a major international bonspiel in South Korea at the end of September. But he had some significant doubts about his readiness.  

“I know I was worried. I’m not sure how (his teammates) were feeling,” said McEwen, speaking after Team Wild Card dumped Thomas Scoffin of Yukon 10-6 in the morning draw at Leon’s Centre. The foursome, 2-0 in Pool A, had the afternoon and evening draws off.

“It was looking like, ‘Really? I’m not even going to be able to go with them?’ So, it was concerning because there’s a lot of unknowns. I’ve had a scope before and this was quite a bit more… they had to stitch my meniscus back together. The recovery was triple, quadruple, what I went through the first time.”

Pain free for the most part, but lacking his usual leg strength, McEwen was able to accompany the crew on a successful journey overseas, topping 2018 Olympic gold medallist John Shuster of Duluth, Minn., in the final of the Uiseong International on Oct. 3.

But it took another six weeks before he was totally confident his knee was healed. 

“As I did it more, I was gaining more range in both the knee joint and the hip. It was a month to a month-and-a-half before I felt like it’s not in the back of your head every time you slide. ‘Can I get to where I’m comfortable right away?’ Because that thought process is there, where it kind of distracts you. You don’t know you can trust it,” he said.

McEwen has modified his delivery — ensuring his knee isn’t extended too outwardly — to prevent the possibility of re-injuring it.

“I was torquing my knee too far out, getting too much of a radical tuck. I toned that down,” he said. “I was getting too far out, and I think over time and that many reps and the torque happening on the joints… it was too much for my knee.”

The McEwen foursome, which includes Derek Samagalski at second and Colin Hodgson at lead, failed to defend its Manitoba men’s championship last month at Eric Coy Arena, losing to Jason Gunnlaugson of Morris. But the team earned a second chance, by way of its lofty status (4th) on the Canadian Team Ranking System, played in the wild-card game here Friday and knocked off three-time world champion Glenn Howard of Ontario to grab the final Brier berth.

Wild Card controlled play against Saskatchewan on Saturday night to register a 5-3 triumph in its Brier opener and then took care of business against Yukon. McEwen had been rock-solid curling 88 per cent through two draws.

Samagalski said his skip did everything right to ensure he was physically sound for the competitive season.

“When Mike’s on, he’s one of the best in the world,” said Samagalski. “It’s nice to see him healthy and in a groove, we have full confidence in him.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell