REGINA – The wild card draw lived up to its name Friday night at the Brandt Centre. A back and forth game ended in Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen stealing his way into the 2018 Tim Hortons Brier, after opposing skip Jason Gunnlaugson’s rock stopped just inches too wide from the pin. McEwen breathed a sigh of relief and the Regina crowd roared.
“I can’t remember the last time we’ve had a break to win a game or stolen a game. We’ve had a lot of heartbreaking losses along the road where teams are drawing to win and haven’t missed,” McEwen told media after the 4-3 win.
“It actually doesn’t feel real yet that we won.”
McEwen’s rink of third B.J Neufeld, second Matt Wozniak and lead Denni Neufeld will now represent Team Wild Card, seeded fourth in the overall tournament.
McEwen says it’s only fitting that he was the first person to suggest a wild card entry into the new 16-team event and now, he’s the first one to win it.
“It’s probably fate that Team McEwen would be in the first one. If this existed a long time ago we would have played six of these by now,” said McEwen, adding that the foursome has lost six of the eight Manitoba finals they’ve played in.
Both teams played a conservative game. Four blanks were on the board after seven ends, and only single points were ever exchanged.
Gunnlaugson led McEwen 3-2 in the tenth. Late in the end, Gunnlaugson cleared the house with a big weight shot and forced McEwen to draw for his single, sending the wild card game into an extra end.
Momentum shifted in the 11th when Gunnlaugson’s rock picked during his release and flashed by all the rocks in the four-foot. McEwen answered with a soft weight takeout to sit four and force Gunnlaugson to draw to the button. The Winnipeg skip was just wide, giving McEwen the win.
“Obviously it’s going to suck right now losing it and going home,” Gunnlaugson said just moments after the wild card loss. “But we just had a draw to the button to go the Brier, which is pretty much every curling boy’s dream.”
“We play in the hardest province in the world.” Gunnlaugson said. “We want to set ourselves up every year to have that shot at the wild card game.”
McEwen’s rink will now join Pool A with the likes of Team Canada, Alberta, Nova Scotia, B.C., Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon and Northwest Territories.
They’ll take on Yukon’s Thomas Scoffin in the second draw Saturday at 7 p.m. CT.
Opening ceremonies kick off Saturday at 12:30 p.m. followed by the first draw at 2 p.m.