McEwen clinches top spot in Pool B at Brier

Saskatchewan has claimed the top spot in Pool B at the 2024 Montana’s Brier.

In front of a crowd of 3,600 at the Brandt Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan’s Mike McEwen defeated Nunavut’s Shane Latimer 9-3 on Wednesday night.

The victory means the team in green has a 6-1 record and has clinched the top spot in its pool. Saskatchewan will play whomever finishes second in Pool A on Friday at 1 p.m.

“Even though we are straight-in first place, we’re going to play hard (Thursday). I don’t think we’re going to let off the gas,” McEwen said. “I want to enter Friday playing really well.”

Third Colton Flasch finished at the top of the pool in 2019 — the year he won the Brier with Kevin Koe’s rink. Flasch said finishing first is a confidence booster for them but won’t mean anything when the playoffs start.

“You know you’re playing well but at the end of the day, it means absolutely nothing,” Flasch said. “It’s a brand new event all of a sudden.”

Saskatchewan beat Jamie Koe of the Northwest Territories 10-2 in Wednesday’s morning draw.

While Saskatchewan is chasing its first title since 1980 — and McEwen himself is still looking for his first Canadian men’s curling championship — that hasn’t affected the pressure the team feels this week.

“I feel no different pressure than if I was at a Brier that’s not a home Brier. I feel the same desire to win my first Brier. I feel like playing at home, it just enriches and makes it that much better,” McEwen said. “It doesn’t add any pressure for me.

“I’ve been chasing (my first Brier title) since I was a kid, a teenager throwing rocks and really starting to believe I could do something down the road … I’ve been chasing after this for 15 years with the mindset I was capable and had a really good team and I could do it.

“I’m just really grateful that even after all that time, I still feel I’m good enough and my team is good enough.”

In the evening game, a measurement was needed in the first end after McEwen was slightly heavy on his draw, but Saskatchewan got its deuce.

A steal of one in the second made it 3-0 for Saskatchewan.

Latimer was heavy on his draw for two but scored a single in the third. McEwen responded with a hit and stick for three in the fourth.

After Saskatchewan stole another point in the fifth end, Latimer scored a single in the sixth.

McEwen got another two points in the seventh. Latimer drew for a single point in the eighth but the teams shook hands after the end.

Saskatchewan is to take on Quebec on Thursday at 2 p.m. in its final round-robin contest.

In the other games Wednesday morning, Alberta’s Aaron Sluchinski beat Quebec’s Julien Tremblay 10-8, Canada’s Brad Gushue beat Prince Edward Island’s Tyler Smith 11-3, and Latimer downed Nova Scotia’s Matthew Manuel 7-5.

In the afternoon slate, Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher beat New Brunswick’s James Grattan 15-3, Manitoba’s Matt Dunstone defeated Ontario’s Scott Howard 8-7, British Columbia’s Catlin Schneider defeated Thomas Scoffin’s Yukon rink 11-2, and Manitoba’s Reid Carruthers beat Newfoundland and Labrador’s Andrew Symonds 6-3.

The evening games also included Sluchinski beating Jamie Koe 10-4, Smith downing Kevin Koe 9-3 and Manuel defeating Tremblay 6-5.