2019 Brier in Brandon as home team 'would be big': McEwen

VIRDEN — Mike McEwen wants be a significant part of old home week in Brandon.

The 2019 Brier will be held in the Winnipeg curler's former stomping grounds early next month and, although there's still plenty of work to be done at the provincial championship this weekend, naturally he's considered just how memorable it would to spend nine or 10 days in the Wheat City with the rest of the country's elite players.

"It would be big," said McEwen, who grew in Brandon and won a couple of provincial junior men's titles when lived there. "There's extra motivation to get there. That's something you might not get a whole bunch of opportunities to be — that home team. I'm not getting any younger, I'd like to take advantage of that."

McEwen, 38, tosses the brick for Reid Carruthers' crew out of the West St. Paul Curling Club, the heavy favourite coming into the '19 Viterra championship here in Virden. That's a powerhouse back end, combined with the skill and strength of lead Colin Hodgson and second Derek Samagalski, who has just recently moved to Brandon.

McEwen has competed in three straight Briers, twice wearing Manitoba's iconic buffalo crest (2016, '17) and then a year ago as Team Wild-Card after defeating Jason Gunnlaugson on the eve of the event. To date, a Canadian title has proven elusive.

But he understands what a major boost athletes playing at home receive from a partisan crowd.

"I've been fortunate enough to play in some pretty great locations, Ottawa ('16) and Regina ('18), and got to see Team (Brad) Gushue win in a home Brier ('17) in St. John's (N.L.). Being that home-province team would be something so amazing to experience," said McEwen, who is married to Olympic gold medallist Dawn McEwen, second on Jennifer Jones' brilliant team. The couple has a three-year-old daughter, Vienna, 3.

In Regina, McEwen and former teammates B.J. Neufeld, Matt Wozniak and Denni Neufeld finished with a record of 7-4 and narrowly missed the Page playoffs. Not once during post-game conversations with reporters about the team's inconsistent play did his health come up as a contributing factor.

"I never talked about it because I probably didn't realize what was happening to me. It was more like thinking about it after. I'd sit down and wonder, 'Why did I struggle in moments?'" McEwen said.

McEwen had been given the green light to compete at the national championship a month after he was felled by adult chicken pox.

This was no simple case of the itchies.

Rash and flu-like symptoms hit hard — and quickly worsened — and McEwen had to be hospitalized after the opening day of the 2018 Manitoba championship the first week of February in Winkler while his teammates forged on. He was dehydrated, his liver wasn't functioning properly and there were concerns about permanent damage.

After four days hooked up to an I.V., he was released from hospital and rejoined his teammates for the Viterra championship final. Weakened considerably, he did his best in the finale against Carruthers but his team fell short.

Just four weeks later, he was immersed in the grind of one of Canada's most celebrated sporting events.

Carruthers didn't make the the playoffs in Regina, either. Less than a month later the two formed an alliance, following a similiar pattern of other elite Canadian teams that altered personnel for the four-year Olympic cycle, a build-up to the 2022 Beijing Games.

Only after a summer of rest and reflection did McEwen realize he wasn't quite himself a year ago at the Brier.

"You start to piece it together and (fatigue) was always later in the day. I was probably running in the 90 percentile early in the day, and things would drop to 75 per cent as far as energy level late in the day," he said. "With that calibre (of competition), it's hard to keep up.

"It took 2-1/2 months for the body to go through the healing cycle. It probably took 'til May before my family doctor was happy with all the results — blood tests, a CT scan to look at my organs — and he cleared me. As far as I'm aware, other than some visual scars from scratching, I'm pretty much OK."

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell