McEwen earns wild-card berth to Brier

REGINA — Mike McEwen beat Jason Gunnlaugson 4-3 in 11 ends in the Tim Hortons Brier wild-card game Friday night to earn a spot in the main competition of the Canadian men’s curling championship,

The wild-card game, which features the two highest-ranked teams in Canada that didn’t already have a spot at the Brier, made its debut in Regina.

With the victory, McEwen claimed the fourth seed in the Brier and will compete in Pool A, opening today against 12th-seed Thomas Scoffin of Yukon when the Brier’s main 16-team competition begins.

The wild-card game gave the two Winnipeg skips a second chance after Reid Carruthers won the Manitoba playdowns to advance to the national championship.

McEwen, who came back to play in the Manitoba championship after being hospitalized with chicken pox, lost 7-6 to Carruthers in the provincial final.

This year’s national championship has undergone big changes. The pre-qualifier games have been replaced by a more inclusive format with 16 teams — made up of Curling Canada’s 14 member associations, Team Canada and the wild-card winner — split into two pools for round-robin play, with the top four teams from each pool advancing to the championship pool.

The remaining top four teams from that round will continue onto a Page playoff to determine the 2018 champion.

The other teams in Regina are: British Columbia (skip Sean Geall, Kelowna); Alberta (skip Brendan Bottcher, Edmonton); Saskatchewan (skip Steve Laycock, Saskatoon); Manitoba (Reid Carruthers, Winnipeg); Nova Scotia (skip Jamie Murphy, Halifax); Yukon (skip Thomas Scoffin, Whitehorse); Northwest Territories (skip Jamie Koe, Yellowknife); Northern Ontario (skip Brad Jacobs, Sault Ste. Marie); Ontario (skip John Epping, Toronto); Quebec (skip Mike Fournier, Dollard-des-Ormeaux); New Brunswick (James Grattan, Oromocto); Prince Edward Island (skip Eddie MacKenzie, Charlottetown); Nunavut (skip Dave St. Louis, Iqaluit); Newfoundland and Labrador (skip Greg Smith, St. John’s); and Team Canada (skip Brad Gushue, St. John’s).

The Kelowna team representing B.C. will open against Team Canada in tonight’s marquee matchup, beginning at 5 p.m. PT.

On Sunday, B.C. will face McEwen at noon PT.