McEwen, Manitoba sneak into championship pool in third
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
We need your support!
Local journalism needs your support!
As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed.
Now, more than ever, we need your support.
Starting at $15.99 plus taxes every four weeks you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website.
Subscribe Nowor call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527.
Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community!
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Brandon Sun access to your Free Press subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $20.00 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.00 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/03/2019 (2550 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Team Manitoba did enough to stick around for a few more days at the Tim Hortons Brier on Wednesday afternoon.
Mike McEwen, Reid Carruthers, Derek Samagalski and Colin Hodgson gutted out a 7-6 win over Prince Edward Island’s John Likely at the Canadian men’s curling championship at Westoba Place, improving to 4-3 and third in Pool A.
“We got pushed today. I thought the boys from the Island played pretty darn well,” McEwen said.
McEwen put the pressure on in the second and left Likely nothing to shoot at, taking a steal of two.
Manitoba followed up with a few misses and left an easy hit for P.E.I. to tie it 2-2, but responded by splitting the rings and generating a routine deuce to back up 4-2 after four.
P.E.I. blanked the fifth then faced trouble in the sixth. Drawing against two with four scattered guards, Likely was just about perfect and needed to be to grab a piece of the button and a single point to trail 4-3.
McEwen needed to be close to perfect — full-four-foot — and wasn’t with his last in the seventh. Hodgson and Samagalski were on it the whole way, but couldn’t drag it far enough, giving Likely a steal of one.
Manitoba took control in the eighth, as McEwen made a quiet tap to bump Likely’s second-shot rock back and count three. P.E.I. missed with its last, and Manitoba took three to lead 7-4, even though McEwen wrecked with last.
Facing five Manitoba stones, Likely delivered a nose hit for a single, cutting Manitoba’s lead to 7-5 coming home. McEwen’s hit to remove one and only surrender a single was good enough to get the job done.
He hasn’t fared as well without such breathing room, which means games against Canada and Alberta today are likely must-win contests.
“The story for us this week is we haven’t capitalized on a couple of opportunities,” McEwen said. “We’ve got a few more (losses) than we’d like going into the next round. I think we’re playing well enough to give just about anybody in the field a good game. Unfortunately, we’re in do-or-die matches now.”
Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs completed the most dominant performance in pool play thus far, capping it off with a 9-5 win over Yukon’s Jon Solberg.
Brendan Bottcher and Team Wild Card (6-1) thrashed Saskatchewan’s Kirk Muyres 8-2 to lock up second place in the pool, while Saskatchewan fell to fourth.
Quebec’s Martin Crête (3-4) ended his Brier with a 14-4 beat down of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Andrew Symonds (0-7) to round out Pool A play.
Northern Ontario, Wild Card, Manitoba and Saskatchewan play Thursday at 2 p.m.
» tfriesen@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @thomasmfriesen