REGINA — Mike McEwen’s hand was shaking while he signed autographs on Saturday afternoon in his adopted home province, minutes after the Team Saskatchewan skip used that same hand to release the game-winning shot to keep the home team alive at the Brier.
“It was difficult to keep the heart rate down,” a smiling McEwen said after his team held on for a 6-5 win over Manitoba. “And then, you know, that rush of adrenaline to make a shot to win the game.”
Before McEwen got ready to take that do-or-die final shot to punch his team a ticket to the semi-final, Saskatchewan third Colton Flasch — a towering presence that coach Brent Laing calls “a bit of a physical freak” — urged the skip not to put too much behind it.
“I know it’s noisy in there, but that’s all I want to do is sweep, sweep, sweep, so if anything I kept telling Mike, ‘No, we could probably take a little less,’” Flasch said when it was over. “We want to be on it and have control over that rock. We don’t want to have to not be sweeping it and then hope it comes up.”
The Saskatchewan fellas swept and it came up, taking out the Manitoba stone and sticking to seal a win, and then up came most of the 5,135 fans here, on their feet clapping and cheering for the hometown team.
“Mike is playing so good right now,” Flasch said. “He’s the best player in this building for sure, hands down. So we just got to keep giving him a chance to win. And I thought that was probably our best overall game of the week.”
Next up for McEwen, Flasch, third Kevin Marsh and lead Dan Marsh in the Sunday afternoon semi-final is either Team Canada’s Brad Gushue or Team Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher, who play Saturday night. The winner advances straight to the final and the loser meets Team Saskatchewan in the semi.
It looked early Saturday like Team Saskatchewan was in the driver’s seat against Manitoba’s Matt Dunstone, who won silver here last year. McEwen scored a deuce in the first end, stole back-to-back singles in six and seven and had a 5-1 lead going into the seventh.
Then things got mighty interesting.
McEwen managed a takeout that left Dunstone sitting one, and the Manitoba skip floated in a draw for a deuce to pull his team within two. In eight, McEwen had a look at a double for three, and just missed it, resulting in a steal of one for Dunstone, pulling Manitoba — lead Ryan Harnden, second Colton Lott, third B.J. Neufeld and Dunstone — within one.
“I was hoping that wouldn’t bite me,” McEwen said of the miss in eight. “But sometimes you don’t know what’s good for you. Maybe that’s good I missed that because I had to make a shot that, for all intents and purposes, might be what it feels like to have a shot to win the Brier.”
Before they got to that point, to win the game on their last shot, Team Saskatchewan opted to give up a steal of one in nine to keep the hammer coming home. Manitoba had scored four straight points to tie things up heading into 10, but Flasch swears it didn’t feel like they were on a sinking ship.
“It didn’t feel too bad, even when we gave up the deuce and even the steal in eight, you know, it kind of sucked, obviously,” he said. “But I still had belief. Even if they get the steal the next end, I know Mike’s going to make a shot for the win.”
Before McEwen’s final shot, out came the “Let’s go Saskatchewan!” (clap, clap, clap, clap, clap) cheers, repeated three times before the final, “Yay Saskatchewan!” (lots of clapping). It was a spirited and also tense feel in the crowd, many of the fans sporting Roughriders green, which is darker than the vibrant shade players wear on the ice.
And though it’s the first year in green for McEwen, who’s from Manitoba, fans have certainly embraced the skip, which is no doubt easy to do since he’s winning. One sign here reads: “Mc. Lovin’ it!”
They were really lovin’ it after McEwen made that last shot, which got the crowd roaring. All four Saskatchewan players threw both arms in the air, and McEwen pumped a fist. The team slid off the ice to a standing ovation.
“The hairs on my arms, back of the neck, everything’s standing up, so it’s great,” Flasch said, of the crowd. “It’s honestly almost as good of a feeling as winning the Brier. But it’s going to feel even better tomorrow.”
Dunstone was emotional when it was over. The 28-year-old is a perennial contender at the Brier, a silver medallist last year and back-to-back bronze medallist in 2020 and ’21, and his team is ranked fourth in Canada.
“You just kind of wonder when it’s going to be your time, you know? Been close a lot of times,” Dunstone said. “Just proud of the group. You know, we’re going to be back and promise we’ll be in the same position again.”
As for McEwen, the skipper said it has been six years since he’s truly believed he could win a big bonspiel like this one. “And now that belief is back, so that’s the biggest difference for me personally as the leader of this team,” McEwen said.
Laing played with McEwen last season for Team Ontario, and the coach said he’s watched McEwen gain confidence over the last couple of seasons. Winning helps, of course.
“This is just a perfect mix, these guys are super easygoing,” said Laing, who’s a three-time Brier and world champion. “They believe in Mike, they have faith in him. At the end of the day, they’ll kind of defer to Mike in big situations, and that’s good for Mike’s confidence.”
McEwen, 43, said having the game come down to the wire will serve the team well against either Gushue or Bottcher on Sunday afternoon, with a ticket to the final on the line.
“There’s a lot of factors there that I’m trying to try to stay within a range that I could still operate, and I think I just managed to stay there, so that’s a really good test for me and the guys,” McEwen said, of that last shot. “It’s all good that we were pushed right to the limit.”
He’s the first player to skip three different provinces, and the first to get to skip at home in back-to-back years, after representing Ontario in London last year. On Sunday, McEwen will play in his first Brier semi-final since St. John’s in 2017, when he won a bronze medal, his best-ever finish here. It’ll be his first Brier semi-final wearing Saskatchewan green.
“It’s been a long road back to a semi for me,” McEwen said. “Honestly, this is the best building that I’ve ever played in. St. John’s was amazing, but I wasn’t the home team, so this is better.
“It’s going to go down as one of the best memories ever in my whole career, no matter how it ends.”
