Two tickets to the big dance

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This article was published 04/03/2020 (1794 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

KINGSTON, Ont. — The table’s set and, as the hosts predicted when the invitations went out, there will be a distinctly Manitoba flavour to the next course of the Brier championship.

Mike McEwen’s team RSVP’d early, while Jason Gunnlaugson’s crew arrived at the door right on time.

Team Manitoba, with Gunnlaugson skipping, Alex Forrest at third, Charlottetown import Adam Casey at second and lead Connor Njegovan, controlled its own destiny Wednesday at the national men’s curling championship, prevailing on successive draws to improve its record to 5-2 and nail down third place in Pool B.

McEwen booked his ticket to the championship round Tuesday but tossed in a 9-4 triumph over James Grattan of New Brunswick on Wednesday to run his record to 6-1 in Pool A.

Three others with strong ties to the province, B.J. Neufeld, a Winnipegger who plays third for Team Canada’s Kevin Koe, and former Winnipeggers Matt Dunstone (skip of Team Saskatchewan) and Ryan Fry (Team Ontario third) are joining the party, too.

“It’s something Manitoba can be really proud of,” said McEwen, whose squad of third Reid Carruthers, second Derek Samagalski and lead Colin Hodgson has an astounding 91-per-cent cumulative shooting efficiency. McEwen (91) and Carruthers (91) are tops at their positions. “We just have so much talent that comes out of the province.”

The Brier’s Top-8 seeds, based on the Canadian Team Rankings System (as of Dec. 31, 2019) all earned the green light to proceed. That’s an appropriate outcome and gets the competitive juices bubbling, said McEwen.

“I’m getting old, getting wise, and I really love these moments where I can play my peers and play against the best. Just to see if I can keep up or one-up them,” said the Brier’s No.3 seed.

Gunnlaugson made a nose-hit in the 10th end to sink Jamie Murphy of Nova Scotia by a 9-7 count on the afternoon draw. Earlier in the day, his team from the Morris Curling Club levelled Jake Higgs of Nunavut 11-7.

The Brier rookie, who’s sparkplug personality endears him to the crowd, said he tried to remain as calm and collected as he could against Murphy, with mixed results.

“We were talking at lunch, it was funny, it was like, ‘Oh, this is a big game.’ And our coach (1996 world champion Garry Van Den Berghe) is like, ‘It’s just another game.’ And I’m like, “Yeah, maybe when you’ve won the world, you can say that.’ Every game at the Brier for us is a big game,” said Gunnlaugson.

“We’re trying our hardest and fighting as hard as we can. It was big for us. We knew we needed this game to have a long week.”

The championship pool, set to begin Thursday morning, is a veritable who’s who of world-class curling talent, and it’s not a stretch to expect the wild exhibition of circus shots to continue.

Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher (7-0), who lost the last two Brier finals, ran the table in Pool B and slides into the championship pool blemish free. Preliminary round-robin records carry over into the championship round.

“To have a little bit of a buffer is great but we’re going to have to keep playing well or those teams are going to catch us,” said Bottcher. “I’m really proud of the guys. I’m trying not to get too worked up. We’ve still got a ways to go.”

Brad Gushue of Newfoundland-Labrador (6-1), the 2017 and ’18 Canadian champion, and 2014 Olympic gold medallist Brad Jacobs of Northern Ontario (4-3) also advanced.

Jacobs, the world’s top-ranked team and the No.1 seed here, began the event 1-3 before posting three consecutive victories. “We welcome every bit of adversity and hardship,” the Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., skip told reporters. “It’s the Canadian championship. It’s not supposed to be easy.”

Saskatchewan (6-1), defending-champion Canada (5-2), skipped by Kevin Koe, and Ontario’s John Epping (4-3) all qualified through Pool A. Epping needed to make his last shot against Northwest Territories to get in.

Dunstone, a two-time Canadian junior champion wearing the buffalo, is shooting 89 per cent at his first-ever Brier, including a pair of 100-per-cent outings.

The survivors from one pool cross over and play the four teams from the other pool. In McEwen’s case, he begins with battles Thursday against Jacobs (12 p.m.) and Gunnlaugson (6 p.m.). Gunnlaugson meets Epping (12 p.m.).

The top four teams then earn berths to the weekend Page playoffs. The semifinal and final are set for Sunday.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell