Fresh outlook has McEwen rink on a roll

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This article was published 30/10/2014 (4346 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SELKIRK — Truth be told, Mike McEwen already has enough proof that reorganizing, not re-staffing, his team earlier this year was the right move.

A record of 29-1 and four wins in four events to start the curling season — including Wednesday’s walkover 10-3 victory in six ends over Scotland’s David Murdoch at the Masters of Curling Grand Slam event at Selkirk Recreation Complex — has put the eyes of the curling world on him.

“Yeah, we want that,” McEwen said Wednesday. “We want to be the best we possibly can be as a team. I think that process of trying to achieve that will get us the results and outcomes we want.

“I think we were a little too outcome-oriented before. We were definitely missing some things in the system that were probably our downfall when we needed wins the most.”

After February’s fourth loss in five years in Manitoba’s provincial championship final game, McEwen, third B.J. Neufeld, second Matt Wozniak and lead Denni Neufeld were in the darkest of places.

The crew had been together eight seasons and it was starting to seem like a breakup was imminent.

McEwen said only a timely trip to the Olympic Games to watch his wife Dawn win a gold medal with Jennifer Jones, and plenty of mirrors and honesty saved the foursome.

“The only reason this team’s still playing together is that we made some drastic changes after last season,” the skip said. “Otherwise, the four of us wouldn’t be a unit anymore.

“We were within a whisper of busting after we lost the provincials last February. I went away the next day, hopped on a plane and didn’t really have time to think about it. I met some important people in and around the Olympic experience and people that were with my wife’s team. That whole experience and getting some insight and bringing a couple of those people in the fold now working with our team, I think that was crucial when I got back in bringing all four us of back together.

“I’m really not sure what would have happened if I’d had time for rash decisions the next day.”

One of the people now assisting his foursome is psychologist Kyle Paquette, about whom McEwen said earlier this week to Yahoo Sports, “There’s no bullsh– with this guy.”

“He’s a nuts-and-bolts kind of guy,” McEwen said Wednesday, explaining further. “He’s not going to fluff things or necessarily make you feel good just because.

“He will challenge your thinking process on everything, like why do we do things the way we do things, and challenge you to get better and not just within the sport but outside the sport, in all aspects of life.

“I think we’ve improved with his help and our trainer’s help, physically and mentally. I think we’ve taken it outside curling and into life as well. It’s hard to be better at one thing without being better at everything. It’s taking a professional approach, that’s one way to describe it.”

The 34-year-old skip and his team were humming again Wednesday, starting off with a routine deuce and then stealing three in the second, when Murdoch came light facing four counters with his last stone.

It was the same scenario in the third, when Murdoch made the draw for one, then McEwen made a delicate chip-out with his last in the fourth for another three, making it 8-1.

‘The only reason this team’s still playing together is that we made some drastic changes after last season. Otherwise, the four of us wouldn’t be a unit anymore’

— skip Mike McEwen

Things are definitely right with the team today.

“I would say there was a plan put together well before our season, months before, and we’ve executed, stuck to the process that we said we had to,” he said. “It’s kind of like we can do no wrong at the moment.

“There will be times when a team will push us to our limit but so far things have kind of aligned perfectly for us this season.”

Including dealing with their own history, which has earned them — for good or bad — the label as the sport’s best team that’s never been to the Brier.

“I think (our new way) helps you forget it,” McEwen said. “We’re getting older. The painful memories start to fade. You get better at dealing with them.

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“I still think we’ve got a solid way of going about trying to learn what we’ve done wrong.

“Before, you know how things get shoved under the rug. We were guilty of that. The last couple of years we didn’t grow as a team.

“Now, it’s only about getting better, not about one result.

“That would go against everything I’ve said,” he said. “Our definition of a successful season now is getting better as a team. I’m not going to put all that pressure on one game.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca