Manitoba motors to top

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This article was published 08/03/2021 (1870 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s Jason Gunnlaugson is sitting pretty at the Brier.

The Morris-based skip rattled off his third consecutive victory at the WinSport Arena in Calgary Monday, beating provincial rival Mike McEwen 8-5. It was Gunnlaugson’s lone game of the day but it put him on top as the lone unbeaten team in Pool A.

“It’s pretty early — let’s not get too excited,” Gunnlaugson told reporters. “This is a long, difficult round robin but it’s definitely been a good start for us and we’re just getting more and more comfortable in the conditions and the ice is fantastic. Basically, draw weight hasn’t changed at all the first three, four days so, you know, it’s a good start but it’s a long, long week.”

Gunnlaugson took his first lead in the eighth end, capitalizing with an angle-run double to score four. He followed by stealing a single in the ninth.

“Yeah, we just threw a… great line call, (third Adam) Casey nailed it and the crowd went wild,” joked Gunnlaugson.

McEwen (2-2), who plays out of West St. Paul, said he made a tactical error.

“Jason is a guy that you want to take the razzle-dazzle shot off the table and unfortunately I can pinpoint I made a strategic error on just one call,” said McEwen when asked about the eighth end. “We didn’t catch it as a team, but unfortunately it kind of led to the progression where the wide angle run double was kind of what it led to.

“He made a beautiful shot but we kind of made just a little bit of a goof up in that we kind of called a tight guard earlier in the end, versus coming in and lying two in the fourfoot and really putting the pressure on them.”

Gunnlaugson’s shot-making has been a key ingredient for the team’s early run, which has included victories over heavyweights such as McEwen and Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher.

“It’s hard to put into words how valuable it is to have a guy like Jay on your team, right?” said lead Connor Njegovan. “Everything is so planned out and and when he’s hitting well, it’s very hard to stop us.”

It was the only game of the day for both teams. 

An early second loss was a bitter pill for McEwen but he vowed to rebound Tuesday. He faces Glenn Howard’s Wild Card No. 3 squad, skipped by Wayne Middaugh, during his lone game in the morning draw.

“All you can really do is learn from it and try not to make that mistake again,” said McEwen. “I mean, it’s hard to call a perfect game at the best of times, but you got to remember we’re a little rusty, even (with) game shot-calling there’s probably going to be an extra mistake here or there then if you were in mid-season form.”

Njegovan said his team has been able to draw on the expertise of his wife, Selena Njegovan, who played third for Tracy Fleury’s squad at the recent Scotties national women’s championship in Calgary.

“Just making sure that we’re prepared and just kind of how was the process (going). Curling Canada has done a really good job of streamlining it — into it is incredible,” said Njegovan. “So, she kind of gave me the heads up and then I was able to organize the boys a little bit and… it’s been seamless so far.”

Gunnlaugson has two games on tap today, with a 9:30 a.m. meeting with Gregory Skauge of the Northwest Territories and a 7:30 p.m. matchup against New Brunswick’s James Grattan. 

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14