Top seed Mike McEwen began his quest for a third straight provincial men’s curling title with a victory.
McEwen and the rest of the top seeds all won their opening matches at the Viterra Championship in Winkler on Wednesday.
McEwen trailed in the early going after surrendering a deuce to Merv Satterthwaite of the St. Vital Curling Club. But McEwen scored five points in the fifth end and then stole a pair in the sixth end en route to a 9-2 victory. McEwen will next face Pinawa’s Richard Muntain in the 12:15 pm draw on Thursday.
Second seed and 2015 champion Reid Carruthers also had a relatively easy time of things. After scoring two in the first, Carruthers proceeded to reel off four straight steals and ended up with an 8-1 win over Dauphin’s Rob Fisher. Carruthers will meet Terry McNamee on Thursday for a spot in an A-Side qualifying game.
Third seed Jason Gunnlaugson needed only five ends to advance. After scoring five in the first end against Travis Graham, Gunnlaugson added a three-ender in the fourth and cruised to an 11-1 triumph.
“It means a little bit more time to rest and recover,” Gunnlaugson said. “Cause we know it’s going to be a long grind of a week if we are going to achieve our goals, so the more rest we have the better.”
Gunnlaugson’s squad will now face Daniel Birchard of the Pembina Curling Club after they disposed of Kelly Marnoch.
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Fourth seed Pat Simmons scored four points in the fifth end to beat Swan River’s Brandon Radford 10-2.
“We just got off to a good start.” Simmons said.
“Had good draw weight early, kinda able to put some rocks in good spots and got an early deuce. Just able to put some pressure on, that was the key.”
Simmons will take on two-time Manitoba senior champion Randy Neufeld in the early draw on Thursday.
WATCH: Viterra Championship – Day 1 Highlights
The only top seed who was even threatened on the opening day was fifth seed William Lyburn. Lyburn scored a pair in the 10th end and stole a single point in the extra end to defeat Brett Walter of the Elmwood Curling Club 8-7.
The first four teams will be eliminated from the 32 team field later on Wednesday with the the losers of the B-Side matches headed home early.
B-Side Games – 8:15pm
Cale Dunbar (Riverview) vs Sean Grassie (Deer Lodge)
Kelly Marnoch (Carberry) vs Travis Graham (Burntwood)
Rob Fisher (Dauphin) vs Riley Smith (Fort Rouge)
Graham Freeman (Virden) vs Braden Calvert (Deer Lodge)
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