Highway to the danger zone

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/03/2019 (2565 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRANDON — Mike McEwen took the protracted route to a championship a month ago — but that was a deserted parking lot compared to the hazardous four-lane highway he’ll have to navigate the next 48 hours.

McEwen has skipped Team Manitoba, just barely, to the eight-team championship round of the 2019 Brier.

The local favourites, with Brandon-born McEwen at the helm, stroked Prince Edward Island off the to-do list Wednesday afternoon, downing skip John Likely’s spirited Charlottetown squad 7-6 in the final-round robin game in Pool A to finish with a 4-3 record.

They’ll need another four consecutive victories to have any shot at sticking around for the weekend and, if that miracle somehow occurs, another three straight triumphs in the Page playoff system to capture the Canadian men’s curling championship.

McEwen, 38, who was born and raised in the Wheat City, continued to hold onto a sliver of hope.

“We have a few more wounds than we would like going into the next round. I think we’re playing well enough to give just about anybody in the field a good game. It’s just that, unfortunately, we’re kind of in do-or-die matches now but at least we’re still playing (Thursday),” he said.

“It’s crunch time for us, and we’ve had that feeling very recently. We had to run about seven in a row in provincials after an early loss, so it’s not a new feeling for us. It’s possible, it’s going to be tough but we’re still kicking.”

Indeed, McEwen’s provincial run started with a win in Virden in early February, but he stumbled in the second game to Brandon’s Terry McNamee before going on a seven-game heater to capture the Manitoba title.

But with the greatest respect, provincial rivals Jeff Stewart, Ty Dilello, McNamee, Tanner Lott, Corey Chambers, Jason Gunnlaugson and William Lyburn aren’t in the conversation of Canadian curling powerhouses. Nope, McEwen must wade through a couple of world champions and an Olympic gold medallist to keep this ride going.

The task ahead for Manitoba is daunting. In fact, three defeats might already be too many, considering who’s zooming in from the opposite direction.

Today, McEwen, third Reid Carruthers, second Derek Samagalski and lead Colin Hodgson, representing the West St. Paul Curling Club just north of Winnipeg, will cross over and face two of the last three world titleists, Team Canada’s Brad Gushue (2017) at 2 p.m. and then Alberta’s Kevin Koe (2016) at 7 p.m.

Gushue, the two-time defending Brier champion who scored a game-opening seven-ender against Nunavut’s Dave St. Louis on Wednesday night, posted a 6-1 record in the Pool B round robin. Koe’s rock-solid team from Calgary — including import B.J. Neufeld of Winnipeg, McEwen’s former third — ran the table (7-0).

McEwen will then challenge B.C.’s Jim Cotter (4-3) and Ontario’s Scott McDonald (4-3) on Friday — although the Buffalo Boys could be out of it by then.

McDonald actually beat Cotter 10-9 Wednesday, negating the need for any tie-breakers — and leaving a pair of 3-4 teams, Terry Odishaw of New Brunswick and Stuart Thompson of Nova Scotia, on the outside.

McEwen said there’s still a positive vibe coursing through the team, despite the desperate times.

“I don’t think anybody’s gotten down. I’m not sure how it comes across on TV,” McEwen said, laughing. “Everybody’s been pretty supportive on the team. It’s just going to take us that little bit extra focus to try and reduce that extra miss or two because that’s what’s cost us in a couple of moments. All in all I feel like we’re playing pretty good, we just need to play really good.

“You don’t get a lot of mistakes against (Brad) Jacobs, Gushue, Kevin Koe… hopefully, we can find a way to minimize a mistake or two from happening.”

Team ’Toba finished third in the pool behind the flawless Jacobs team from Northern Ontario (7-0) and Brendan Bottcher’s Wild-Card crew (6-1). Saskatchewan’s Kirk Muyres also finished 4-3, but settled for fourth due to a loss to Manitoba on Day 1 of the nine-day event at Westoba Place.

The Jacobs team, with Ryan Fry at third, E.J. Harnden at second and Ryan Harnden at lead, barely broke a sweat this week and closely resemble their gold-medal form from the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Only one of their seven games went the full 10 ends.

“Probably as fresh as we can be at this point. I don’t think you can feel any better,” Jacobs said when asked about the preservation of energy the first five days here. “We’re fortunate we haven’t had to go the distance. We’ll take it all day long, but we know that going the distance is going to happen very soon here.”

Bottcher has been on an emotional roller-coaster for a couple of weeks. His Edmonton team lost the Alberta semifinal and then had to anxiously wait to see whether or not Koe would win the province. When he did, Bottcher earned the spot in last Friday’s Wild-Card game, slipping past Toronto’s John Epping to grab the last Brier berth.

A day later, Bottcher got blasted 10-2 by Jacobs in eight ends in the Saturday opener and then rattled off a six pack.

“Yeah, we’re reallly epitomizing the wild-card concept here. It’s been tough,” said the 26-year-old skip. “For us, we’ve had a lot of peaks and valleys the last few weeks, and all you can ask for is at the end of the week you’re trending in the right direction and, hopefully, you can get on a roll.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell