McEwen edges Gushue on electrical night at Kioti National

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Mike McEwen knew his Saskatoon-based squad can be strolling into the lion’s den Thursday night time on the Kioti National, so why not embrace the heel position?

McEwen confronted St. John’s personal Brad Gushue, who introduced alongside roughly 6,000 of his closest pals to pack the Mary Brown’s Centre.

The crowd was already fired up, clapping and stomping alongside throughout follow as conventional Newfoundland people songs performed whereas they waited to observe their modern-day people hero play. Once the warmups commenced, that was McEwen and his teammates’ cue to duck off the ice. As the glass shattered and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s theme music hit, Team McEwen returned with Colton Flasch draped within the Saskatchewan flag and twins Kevin and Dan Marsh elevating their embellished ugly sticks.

It was all performed to laughs as consideration then turned to the group that wanted no introduction — though there was one, you simply couldn’t hear MC Robbie Doherty by means of the roar of the capability crowd.

That greater than set the tone for an electrical night and one which McEwen emerged victorious over the house aspect in an intense 4-3 battle.

“We did a bit of planning and wanted to kinda come out as the bad boys,” McEwen stated with fun. “Team Gushue have been good sports activities. They knew we have been going to do one thing slightly enjoyable.

“We’ve got to do more of that. There are tons of rivalries out here and obviously, Brad and us have a pretty good one going on. Hey, if we go back to Saskatchewan for a Slam, they can come out to something to taunt us. That was just fun to do that, and oh, what a building to win in and it’s only going to build come the weekend. This was a big win for us.” 

McEwen knew what to anticipate as he had confronted Gushue on residence ice through the 2017 Brier and gained that sport as effectively.

“Honestly, Thursday night at a Slam, it felt like a national championship playoff game in there,” McEwen stated. “When we were practising, I was like, oh boy. The East Coast songs are playing and the crowd is into it. I was like, if we let the crowd get into this, we’re in trouble.”

The two skips have confronted off since they have been youngsters in juniors and Thursday’s contest was their 61st assembly in males’s play. McEwen holds the benefit 34-27 all-time and has had Gushue’s quantity this season at 4-0. 

Gushue’s most up-to-date win over McEwen was an enormous one, although final season within the Brier closing to win a 3rd consecutive Canadian males’s championship and a file sixth as a skip.

“For a lot of the fans in the building, I think we’re a close second to Brad, as close as you can, because I’ve been a guy my entire career who keeps getting knocked out, keeps getting back up, knocked down, back up, back up, back up and I’m not going away,” McEwen stated. “Maybe Brad’s like: ‘Why won’t this man go away?’ I’m right here, I’m simply an annoying buzzing bee or wasp. I gained’t go away and it’s enjoyable for followers who actually give us some love too, as a result of they see how arduous we’re working.

“We’re going to try and challenge him as hard as we can and there are some other Canadian teams doing the same thing. I think this is awesome. This is going to build as we head to March and April for the Players’ Championship. We’ve got some really good things going on with the heated battles of the best Canadian teams. Never mind the world stuff. We’ve got a lot of cool things going on, let’s keep that going, let’s build the intensity as we go through the season.”

Winning the draw-to-the-button shootout to start out proved to be key for McEwen because it allowed him to dictate the play and by no means path within the match.

After three consecutive blanks to start out, the group began to dial again and develop a bit stressed for some offence. Gushue ensured there wouldn’t be a fourth set of bagels on the board as he sat at the very least two counters, with a 3rd one too shut sufficient for consolation, that pressured McEwen into making an angle increase bump for one level.

“It wasn’t my intention to get a bunch of blanks in a row, but I was thinking maybe we can lull the crowd a little bit, just kind of take the air out of the building, so that was actually nice,” McEwen stated. “Not that I don’t need a rowdy crowd, as a result of that’s enjoyable to play in, however it was good to let issues settle and management the sport for some time.

“I think if the crowd was getting into Brad’s team making a whole bunch of shots early, we were going to be in trouble. They’re a team that can feed off of that too, so that was nice. Let them settle, lull them not to sleep but just let things die down a bit. I thought we executed our game plan really well and we could do that because we had hammer.”

The tables have been turned within the fifth finish after Gushue rubbed off a guard along with his first skip stone. That allowed McEwen so as to add one other log to the fireplace, drawing in to take a seat 4 and Gushue needed to make a increase of his personal to attain the equalizing single.

McEwen scored a deuce within the sixth to drag forward 3-1 as his increase takeout simply grazed his stone because the again finish of the 12-foot circle to stay within the rings.

A few errors within the seventh had McEwen in hassle till he bailed his group out with a clutch cross-house double to restrict the injury.

Gushue drew for a tying two factors, and landed on the lid as well, as the group erupted and even a hockey horn went off.

Still, that put McEwen proper the place he needed to be — holding the hammer coming residence — and he simply needed to chip out Gushue’s shot rock whereas avoiding his stone proper behind it in the home to attain the successful level.

“We played well, but we also got some breaks and made some uncharacteristic misses,” McEwen stated. “We didn’t string sufficient photographs collectively that I might have appreciated to see. We needed to grind fairly arduous. There have been alternatives on the market and I wish to see us string just a few extra collectively as a result of Brad had us sweating, particularly within the seventh finish. If he makes a extremely good one, I’m going to have a tough time. He’s most likely going to get three and take the lead then the constructing erupts.

“We can do better. We did get fortunate a handful of times, got lucky and made something, maybe a half shot the other way that we didn’t call, so we can be better. We’ll take the win, played well enough to win, but if we play Brad later in the week, we’re going to have to be even sharper.”

The crowd has proven its help for all curlers this week and McEwen remained at ice stage lengthy after the sport had completed, even after Team Gushue had left, to signal autographs and take selfies with followers.

McEwen moved to a 3-0 file within the event to punch a playoff ticket and handed Gushue his first lack of the week. After falling within the tiebreaker stage through the Co-op Canadian Open earlier this month, McEwen was relieved he wouldn’t have to fret about that route.

“Thank goodness. We didn’t fare so well last time in that, so that was a great feeling,” McEwen stated. “We sort of had, I don’t wish to say a stoop, however we had a two-event (lull) in Penticton and the final Grand Slam in Nisku we didn’t make it by means of. We simply needed to sit down and actually get again to how we plan out video games, sticking to extra of a system. We bought going with the move and perhaps simply not being the group we could be and sticking to our type. We have been getting caught in some stuff and we weren’t performing.

“This is nice. This is a reset for us and I think it shows. … We got hammer in all three games and were able to put our game plan into play versus us chasing. I think it’s fair to say in the last Grand Slam, we were doing some chasing. It was a little bit ugly. These are three really solid games for us.”

Gushue (2-1) could have one other probability to qualify Friday when he takes on Switzerland’s Team Marco Hösli (1-2). McEwen will look to fine-tune issues towards former teammate and longtime pal Reid Carruthers (1-2).

“I feel the group goes to be actually into it as a result of Brad’s going to wish to win tomorrow night time,” McEwen stated. “It’s going to be loud and now you’re not going to know when the constructing goes to erupt essentially. You might be within the hack, so it’s going to be a complete different problem. I lived by means of that by means of the St. John’s Brier. We’ll should have hand indicators and issues prepared.

“Just to be able to play in a Friday night building in the environment tomorrow, it doesn’t get much better than that. I’m excited.”

Hösli will likely be hungry for an additional win to remain in rivalry after defeating Carruthers’s Winnipeg membership 8-3 on the adjoining sheet.

Team Michael Brunner (1-2) additionally bought within the win column with a 6-5 resolution towards Switzerland’s Team Yannick Schwaller (0-3) in an all-Swiss showdown.

Yannick Schwaller is out of the lineup after present process knee surgical procedure. His brother, Kim Schwaller, is filling in at second with Sven Michel transferring as much as throw third and skip the squad.

Scotland’s Team Ross Whyte (3-0) additionally certified for the quarterfinals with a 9-5 victory over Team Marc Muskatewitz of Germany. Muskatewitz is making his top-tier Grand Slam of Curling debut this week. However, his group is getting into on a excessive, having gained the gold medal on the European Championships final week.

“That was a tough game out there,” Whyte stated. “Those boys have been in good form all the last two weeks. They’ve been having a great year and then these last two weeks have really turned on, so we knew with a great crowd they’d come out firing and they certainly did.”

Whyte stored tempo although, and held the hammer tied coming residence as he made a scorching increase double takeout to attain 4 factors.

“We could see just enough, we just had to curl a touch by the guard to make that run double,” Whyte stated. “It was always there for two but to get the four points was a big boost to close out the game.”

The closing 4 round-robin attracts are set for Friday starting with Draw 13 at 8:30 a.m. NT / 7 a.m. ET.

Broadcast protection resumes on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ resumes at midday NT / 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Kioti National is the third Grand Slam of Curling occasion of the season that includes 16 of the highest males’s groups and 16 of the highest girls’s groups from around the globe. … Round-robin play runs by means of to Friday. The prime eight groups in each divisions advance to Saturday’s quarterfinals. If obligatory, one tiebreaker draw will likely be performed Saturday morning to find out the ultimate playoff spots. … The semifinals are additionally scheduled for Saturday with each finals on faucet Sunday.