McEwen gets Gang Green off to fast start

When skip Mike McEwen first looked at the 2024 Montana’s Brier schedule at Regina, he might have asked: ‘OK, which team am I again? Oh, yeah, Saskatchewan’.

McEwen, the first man to skip three different provinces at the Canadian Men’s Curling Championship, did indeed don the green of Saskatchewan on Friday night as the 10-day 2024 Montana’s Brier, presented by AGI, kicked off at the Brandt Centre. And he did it in grand style, providing the enthusiastic home crowd a win.

“When you make a big shot you could tell the crowd was really into it,” said McEwen, who opened his week by guiding Team Saskatchewan (1-0, Saskatoon) to a nail-biting 7-6 win over skip Tyler Smith’s Team Prince Edward Island (0-1, Crapaud) in one of four Pool B games. “That’s the best feeling in the world, like an adrenalin rush. I’m going to get addicted to that all week so hopefully we can keep doing that.”

McEwen, supported by third Colton Flasch and front-end brothers Kevin and Daniel Marsh, represents an oddity at this Montana’s Brier. Saskatchewan has generally been skipped by someone from Saskatchewan, but McEwen hails from next-door neighbour Manitoba. Residency rules now allow for a certain amount of migration, and McEwen, originally from Brandon, has used them over the past two years. Last season, he skipped Team Ontario to the playoffs in London, Ont. The previous year, he skipped his home province of Manitoba.

McEwen, in his ninth Brier appearance, hopes to earn his first national men’s championships with this new team and is off to the races after an opening win over the Islanders.

“I get more excited than anything,” he said of representing the home province. “I don’t feel any more pressure than I normally would at any Brier. It adds to the enjoyment for me.”

McEwen, who gave up a quick two points in the first end, showed his Brier chops in the fourth end when he made two superlative shots to set up a game-tying deuce. His first was a nifty double to lie three, and his second a delicate come-around tap-back to score two.

He followed up with a steal of two in the next end to take control.

The Islanders didn’t go down without a fight, carrying the game to the 10th end tied-up, but McEwen, with hammer, hit and stuck facing two for the winning point.

“They pushed us real hard,” said McEwen. “Honestly, they played better than I expected. I think they made maybe one little calling mistake that gave us two that came out of nowhere. They were solid and we had to really dig to pull that out.”

It was also a good start for skip Brad Gushue who shot 91 per cent in leading his defending champions Team Canada (1-0, St. John’s, N.L.) to a 7-4 victory over Nova Scotia’s Team Matthew Manuel (0-1, Halifax).

“I thought we played well,” said Gushue. “I thought we controlled the game. To come out with a win, we’re quite happy with it.”

Gushue is attempting to become just the second team in the history of the Brier to win three straight titles. The Ferbey Four of Alberta, led by skip Randy Ferbey, won three straight from 2001-2003.

Also kicking off the proceeding Friday was another intriguing game featuring four-time Montana’s Brier champion Kevin Koe, skipping Team Alberta-Koe (0-1, Calgary), knocking heads with Alberta-Sluchinski, skipped by Aaron Sluchinski (1-0, Airdrie). Sluchinski, who defeated Koe twice in the Alberta provincials, including the final, proved he’s a contender this week, rolling to an 8-4 win.

In the other opening-draw game, skip Jamie Koe’s Team Northwest Territories (1-0, Yellowknife), posted a 7-4 win over Team Quebec (0-1, Etchemin/Kénogami/Chicoutimi/Victoria), skipped by Julien Tremblay.

Team Nunavut (0-0, Iqaluit), skipped by Shane Latimer, had the Pool B bye.

The 18 teams are split into two pools of nine. Teams will play a complete eight-game round robin within their pools. From there, the top three teams in each pool advance to the playoffs.

The final goes Sunday, March 10.

The 2024 Montana’s Brier continues Saturday with draws at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. (all times Central Standard).

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2024 Montana’s Brier are available at www.curling.ca/scoreboard/

TSN and RDS will provide complete coverage of the 2024 Montana’s Brier. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule. Live coverage is also available for international streaming on TSN’s YouTube channel.

This story will be available in French as soon as possible at https://www.curling.ca/2024brier/nouvelles/?lang=fr