McEwen demonstrates he belongs on big stage
I can barely begin to tell you how impressed I was with Mike McEwen and his teammates at the Canadian Olympic curling trials.
As difficult as it must have been to come within inches of a trip to the Olympics, the Winnipeg team left Ottawa with absolutely nothing to hang their heads about.
They played like champions and came up second in a game that had no real loser.
Yes, the McEwen foursome finished in the worst possible spot in terms of heartbreak: the dreaded second place. But they showed all of Canada they are worthy of being considered one of the best teams in the world.
Nobody was more impressive than the skip. McEwen, the 37-year-old from Brandon who has curled out of Winnipeg for years, made a real statement.
On the biggest stage, with the most at stake and the pressure at an all-time high, he flourished. Many people thought Saturday’s semifinal win over Brad Gushue was the best game of his life.
He was even better in the final, curling 95 per cent against Calgary’s Kevin Koe and still, somehow, came up just short.
All this from a guy who has had his mental toughness questioned. His career includes many times when he was unable to rise to the occasion.
People began to wonder if he’d ever even win Manitoba, let alone a Canadian title or something so grand as an Olympic gold medal.
It all changed in 2016 when McEwen, B.J. Neufeld, Matt Wozniak and Denni Neufeld won a men’s buffalo for the first time. They followed it up with another provincial title in 2017 and won the bronze medal at the Brier.
In between the two Brier appearances, they had their brotherhood tested, and they came perilously close to breaking up. Neufeld told me last week they simply weren’t having any fun and were not supporting one another. They were barely friends, let alone teammates, and they all gave strong consideration to calling it quits as a foursome.
To their credit, they pulled it together. They talked it out and agreed to be more supportive, better friends, better teammates.
It served them well, getting torn down to the point where there was basically nothing left, then building back up again.
It changed them as people and nobody felt a more profound effect than McEwen. He was calmer, more introspective, more confident in his ability to call and play the game.
Even when his team lost three of its last four round robin games at the Olympic trials, McEwen showed no signs of crumbling. Some fans may have been thinking “Here we go again” but not McEwen.
He made sure his team won its last round robin game to make the playoffs, then took down the reigning world champion Gushue with a precise performance.
Then there was that absolute classic of a game against the quiet assassin Koe, he of the three Canadian championships and two world titles.
McEwen went toe-to-toe for 10 ends, making great shots and keeping the pressure high. Wozniak (66 per cent) and Neufeld (78 per cent) did not have great games but McEwen was mostly able to save the day.
He really only had one miss on the night, coming in heavy on a tap back that led to a steal of one and a 5-3 lead for Koe through six.
But McEwen battled back to tie twice more and did everything he could to steal the win in the 10th.
Koe had to make his last shot against two. His draw was light and, for a few agonizing moments for both teams, it looked as if McEwen might just win.
Fortunately for Koe, he has the best sweepers in the world in Ben Hebert and Brent Laing, and third Marc Kennedy came out to help drag the rock into the fourfoot for the win.
The Koe foursome rejoiced and McEwen and his teammates couldn’t bear to watch.
So there will be no Olympic appearance for McEwen, at least not yet. He will have to wait at least four years to have a chance to get a gold medal to match the one his wife, Dawn, won in Sochi.
But he gained something at these Olympic trials.
A whole lot of respect. From his teammates, his peers, from curling fans across the country.
That in itself, is a win.