Carruthers defeats McEwen in championship final

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This article was published 04/02/2018 (2812 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINKLER — Mike McEwen wasn’t supposed to be there, yet in he walked — and it crossed Reid Carruthers’ mind that maybe fate was set to deliver a mighty takeout of his own Brier hopes.

But the affable skip’s deadly accurate last-rock, last-end, hit-and-stick for a single point late Sunday afternoon erased those negative vibrations and soldified a return to the Canadian men’s championship for his West St. Paul curling team.

Carruthers bashed a McEwen counter on the beak in the 10th end to register a 7-6 victory over the ailing two-time defending champion in the 2018 Manitoba men’s curling final. He and his third Braeden Moskowy, second Derek Samagalski and lead Colin Hodgson will return to the national playdown for the first time since 2015 when they finished 4-7 in Calgary.

The Brier will be held in Regina, March 3-11.

“I was trying not to get too excited about playing in the final and thoughts of going to Regina and getting back to the Brier,” Carruthers said. “After two years of McEwen winning and beating us and deserving to go, we had to work a little harder and it tastes a little sweeter after not going for a few years.”

The Carruthers squad lost last year’s Manitoba final to McEwen in Portage la Prairie.

McEwen had spent three days and three nights in the hospital with a serious case of chickenpox and, by his own teammates’ assertions, was highly doubtful to set foot in Centennial Arena.

Discharged in the morning, he sent a buzz through the old Winkler barn, emerging from the dressing room, an equipment bag slung over his shoulder, to make his way behind Sheet C for a pre-game practise session at 2:30 p.m. — 30 minutes before the opening rock toss. He received a huge ovation from the 600-plus fans at the arena when he was introduced.

No one saw it coming, including Carruthers, a fierce adversary on the ice but one of the world-class skip’s closest friends.

“Seeing Mike out here, I was almost speechless,” said Carruthers, 33, who won three Manitoba titles as Jeff Stoughton’s second and now has two as a skip. “I wouldn’t quite say I saw a ghost, but it was that feeling of, ‘Maybe I’m in for a good one, here’ because it makes for one heck of a story — being in the hospital and then coming up and playing in the provincial final.”

He said a short, to-the-point text reply Sunday morning from McEwen was, in retrospect, a pretty strong hint.

“I checked in on him, (and) said, ‘Glad you’re doing better.’ He gave me the old, ‘Thanks, buddy.’ That was pretty much it. So, I knew something was up,” said Carruthers, flashing a grin. “We normally text a lot, so it made me wonder: ‘Does that mean this guy is getting suited up?’ Sure enough. It shows a lot about his character, his courage, to put himself out there after not playing, and leaving it all out there.”

Carruthers, the No.2-ranked team in the event behind McEwen, went a perfect 7-0 this week.

McEwen played Wednesday afternoon but was visibly unwell. Neufeld skipped the team’s next six games, while Matt Wozniak and B.J.’s brother, Denni Neufeld, tossed three rocks apiece.

When he returned Sunday, McEwen called the game and threw third stones, while B.J. delivered the final rocks.

“We felt as a team that our best chance to win this game was to have him here. It gave us the extra sweeper, it gave us the extra mind during the game. He’s obviously, even with a few days off, a pretty good curling,” explained B.J. “I wouldn’t go back and change that decision. Even with a guy that sat for so long, he still made some key shots in the game. It’s a pretty courageous performance by him.”

An interview request went in but McEwen, understandably, asked for some space after the loss.

“He’s weak, he’s got pox all over himself. He’s being pretty vulnerable just being here, I think, just playing the game. He doesn’t really need this,” said B.J. “He was drugged and on IV’s and it’s been pretty tough.”

The foursome has lost six Manitoba finals in its more than a decade together.

“It’s maybe not as bad as some of the other ones, feel-wise, based on the type of week we had. It took a lot just to get to this point. But it’s super disappointing,” said B.J.

They certainly would not go quietly.

Carruthers led 4-2 after four ends and 6-3 through seven. Neufeld posted a deuce in the eighth end to close the gap to 6-5. In the ninth, Carruthers sat in the hack facing two open opposition rocks and elected to play a hit, but he caught less than half of the shot rock and rolled out, surrendering a steal.

Tied 6-6 coming home, Carruthers also faced two McEwen counters but threw straight and true for the victory.

“(It’s) very exciting. When we missed out to go to Korea (for the Winter Olympics) we were pretty disappointed, but knew there was a huge carrot at the end of the season, which is going back to the Brier,” said Hodgson. “We drastically underperformed (in 2015), so we’re really looking forward to going back more well-prepared and after we’ve done a lot more work.”

McEwen’s crew can still make it to the Brier field through the back door. A reimagined format, mirroring that of the national Scotties in Penticton, B.C,, offers up a last chance to qualify on the eve of the 16-team Brier for one of the top two Canadian Team Ranking System point-getters still without a spot.

McEwen is ranked first and is guaranteed to play in Regina in the Friday, March 2 ‘play-in’ game — the same route Kerri Einarson took to get into the Scotties.

In Regina, McEwen could play fellow Winnipegger Jason Gunnlaugson’s team in the wild-card game. Gunnlaugson is the next eligible team, although Brad Jacobs of Northern Ontario is right behind. But Jacobs, the 2014 Olympic gold medallist, is the heavy favourite to win his region next weekend, any way.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell