King Jeff the VIII

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This article was published 15/02/2010 (5930 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

STEINBACH — Jeff Stoughton is like one of those vampires on teen TV these days. It’s easy to wound him, but putting him down for good — that’s another thing.

Stoughton collected his eighth buffalo on Sunday, defeating Mike McEwen 9-8 in an extra end at the men’s provincial curling championship. He’ll represent Manitoba at the Brier in Halifax in just over two weeks.

“Fantastic. I don’t think there’s really any way to describe this,” said Stoughton with a smile. “We love to win this event and we love to go to the Brier. That’s why we keep coming back here and working hard to win.”

Stoughton has now won four of the last five provincial titles and back-to-back championships.

McEwen nicked Stoughton with a flesh wound on Saturday night, earning a 7-5 win that allowed him straight passage to the final. But Stoughton proved to be decidedly undead and fought his way into the final to deny McEwen in the 29-year-old’s first trip to the title game.

Stoughton, 46, and his team of third Kevin Park, second Rob Fowler and lead Steve Gould were forced to crawl out of bed early Sunday and battle Kerry Burtnyk in the semifinal while McEwen and company rested at the hotel.

Stoughton was fresh and frisky in handling his old foe 6-4 and rolled into the final with momentum, letting McEwen know early that any advantage he might previously have held was gone.

“I missed probably three shots in that game that were probably routine and that could have been the turnaround,” said McEwen, who was undefeated at 6-0 coming into the final. “I struggled the first half and it’s disappointing to not have your best game at this stage.”

Stoughton, a winner of two Briers and a world championship along with eight Manitoba titles, stole a single in the first and a deuce in the second to jump out to a 3-0 lead. The Charleswood skip put the pressure on McEwen from the first stone and refused to let up, forcing the first-timer and his team to continually make meaningful and difficult shots.

The strategy paid off as the McEwen team, who were deadly sharp on Saturday night, struggled to answer Stoughton’s offensive and made a number of early mistakes.

Credit goes to McEwen, though, who kept his mind and his team in the game. When Stoughton faltered late, he took advantage.

McEwen scored a deuce in the 10th to tie the match at 8-8 going into extra ends.

The defending champs, however, held the hammer and Stoughton drew to the button for the win and a record eighth Manitoba title.

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca