McEwen’s rink continues hot run with win over Jacobs
CAMROSE, Alta. — The hottest team in Canada is still on fire.
Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen sent an emphatic message to the rest of the competitive curling community on Sunday night when he destroyed 2014 Olympic champion Brad Jacobs 8- 3 in only eight ends in the Home Hardware Canada Cup men’s final.
McEwen stole three points in the second end when Jacobs was a little heavy on a rub- and- roll draw shot near the four- foot to jump out to a 5- 0 lead after two ends and coasted to an easy victory at Encana Arena.
“That was a gift. That’s not going to happen against a team like that very often,” McEwen said. “It might not happen again for years.
“They’re an amazing team and that just shows you that being off just a little bit, whether it’s a few extra feet of weight or a few inches of line, can dramatically swing a game.”
Meanwhile, in the women’s final, it’s starting to look like Lori Olson- Johns may be more than just an emergency replacement for Val Sweeting’s upandcoming rink.
The 38- year- old St. Albert, Alta., school teacher celebrated a Canada Cup victory Sunday after the Saville Centre foursome knocked off two- time Canadian champion Rachel Homan of Ottawa 6- 3.
“Being the crowd favourite was just an amazing feeling,” said Sweeting, who lives and works in Vegreville but curls out of Edmonton.
“It was a great win,” said Olson-Johns, who only joined Sweeting’s rink ( which also includes second Dana Ferguson and lead Rachelle Brown) on short notice in November after third Andrea Crawford suddenly returned to New Brunswick.
“We played fantastic as a team. We were calm and confident out there. We really knew the ice and the rocks. Playing in the semifinal ( on Saturday) was really to our advantage today. It was a really fun, great team game.”
On the men’s side, Jacobs was frustrated and disappointed with the result “because we did everything necessary to prepare well for this game and we struggled with the ice, struggled with a few tricky spots, and it cost us huge on the scoreboard.”
“We came out sloppy and they got two corners on us. It looked really good from that point on if you’re McEwen’s team,” he said.
“They got up a 5- 0 lead and that’s pretty much game over.”
While he would have loved to have headed back to Edmonton after five ends, Jacobs had to remain on the ice for a minimum of eight ends because of the event rules for the TSN- televised final.
Still, it looked like Jacobs might have a chance to get back in the game until McEwen third B. J. Neufeld made a triple- raise, double- takeout in the third end.
Neufeld also followed up his amazing shot with “a beautiful soft- weight” hit- and- roll.
In a seven- team field full of former Olympic, world and Canadian and provincial champions, the 34- year- old McEwen was the outsider with nothing but four Grand Slam titles to his credit.
But it didn’t stop McEwen and his team ( which includes Denni Neufeld and Matt Wozniak on the front end) from continuing a season- long roll that has seen them compile a 45- 7 record and win six of seven events while earning more than $ 100,000, more than double the amount accumulated by runner- up Jacobs.
Unlike Sweeting, who had to win the women’s event over Homan on Sunday to qualify for the World Financial Group Continental Cup at Calgary in January, McEwen had already earned a berth with Saturday’s win over Glenn Howard in the semifinals.