Cleared of chicken pox, McEwen has chance to qualify

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/03/2018 (2774 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The physical marks are gone but Mike McEwen’s still carrying an emotional scar that needs erasing.

The Winnipeg skip and his teammates from the Fort Rouge Curling Club have a shot at redemption Friday night when they meet some fellows from back home in a high-stakes, one-game showdown for the final Brier berth.

McEwen and Jason Gunnlaugson from the Granite are the two highest-ranked foursomes on the 2017-18 Canadian Team Ranking System that haven’t already locked down a spot at the national championship.

Under its new format for major events, Curling Canada has orchestrated the wild-card game to guarantee a winner-take-all look and feel. The crucial 10-end contest is the lone game at Brandt Centre and will be played in front of what’s expected to be a large crowd since admission is free. It’s also being televised nationally on TSN (7 p.m.).

The regular 16-team Brier draw begins Saturday at 2 p.m.

For McEwen, third B.J. Neufeld, second Matt Wozniak and lead Denni Neufeld, it’s an opportunity to make possible a return trip to the Canadian men’s championship with the guy calling the shots and throwing the last ones healthy and back to full strength.

McEwen was hospitalized with a frightening case of chicken pox for the bulk of the recent five-day Manitoba championship, yet made a dramatic return for the final — but it wasn’t enough as off-ice friend and on-ice rival Reid Carruthers used his final stone to hit and stay for a thrilling 7-6 victory to get back to the Brier for the first time since 2015.

 

It’s rare to get a do-over of this magnitude in sport, but McEwen said his crew is, indeed, deserving.

“It’s a bit of a strange feeling, travelling somewhere for a one-game showdown. But it certainly does have that feel of getting a second shot at a provincial final, and, in this case, we’re playing a really good Manitoba team,” he said.

“For myself and the guys, too, it seems like we’re getting another chance at that final game to go to the Brier that, unfortunately, for all intents and purposes was kind of taken away from us with me getting sick. We really didn’t have a fair shot at it in Winkler, so this is as fair a shot we could have asked for.”

In Winkler the first weekend in February, doctors at Boundary Trails Health Centre were initially concerned the virus had begun to cause internal complications, including some serious liver damage. But McEwen said other than refraining from imbibing — a tall order for any curler — he’s been able to maintain a regular routine of on- and off-ice workouts after taking a full two weeks away from the hack and house to recover after losing to Carruthers.

“My energy level is fine. I’ll do some blood tests in mid-March for some validation that the liver is healing OK, but it can take quite a bit of time,” he said. “After that time to reset, I feel now like I’ve had really good practices leading up to the Brier and I know the other guys are just champing at the bit to play.”

 

None of the shooters on Gunnlaugson’s squad — third Alex Forrest, second Ian McMillan and lead Connor Njegovan — has a Brier appearance. Gunnlaugson took over the reins last fall when skip Matt Dunstone moved on to join Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock.

Does Gunnlaugson, always considered a bit of a renegade — eight years ago he moved to Moscow to win a Russian national title — figure his talented team can knock off the McEwen juggernaut?

“We are the underdogs, for sure. It always can be a big advantage if used correctly. We have been big underdogs in basically every (Grand) Slam event we’ve played in this year and fared quite well,” he said. “So, that brings us a ton of confidence.”

The winner immediately gets the fourth seed in the event and will compete in Pool A, opening Saturday at 7 p.m. against 12th-seed Thomas Scoffin of Yukon.

 

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: WFPJasonBell