KELOWNA -- The all-Saskatchewan match-up at the Montana’s Brier on Wednesday afternoon turned out as close as fans could have hoped, but one rink has had momentum all week, and that rink would come away with the win.
Mike Ewen and his Saskatoon Nutana foursome of third Colton Flasch, second Kevin Marsh and lead Daniel Marsh took advantage of a bad break on Rylan Kleiter’s final stone in the eighth end and would go on to a 7-2 win at the Canadian men’s curling championship in Kelowna.
It was a masterful bit of setting things up until the time was right to that point, as McEwen had blanked the previous three ends before getting things in place in the eighth -- where a five-ender that would cause the two teams to shake hands early.
Things were as close as could be between the teams through six ends, with Kleiter stealing one in the second, McEwen putting the hammer to good use in the third end for a pair and Kleiter taking a single in the fourth end to sit tied 2-2 through four.
McEwen came into the game with the most blank ends in the tournament, and he’d proceed to keep things clean enough over the next two to add another pair of blanks to his total, keeping things tied up going into the seventh.
A pair of great shots by Flasch had McEwen laying three at skips stones in that end, but Kleiter would get out of trouble with a double on his first shot, and McEwen would get the blank for the third straight frame.
Kleiter faced a bunch of McEwen rocks in the house with his final shot in the eighth, but that attempt would appear to pick on a freeze attempt and hit his own stone at the back of the eight. That set McEwen up for a draw for five, and he’d get the job done by stopping in the back of the eight foot to bring things to an early end.
Kevin Marsh led the McEwen foursome by curling 95 per cent, while McEwen curled 94 per cent, Daniel Marsh 91 per cent and Flash 89 per cent.
Kleiter and his team also curled well, as lead Trevor Johnson hit 94 per cent, second Matthew Hall 91 per cent, third Josh Mattern 83 per cent and Kleiter 88 per cent.
Standings in Pool B after the afternoon draw are as follows:
Saskatchewan (McEwen) 7-0
Alberta (Jacobs) 6-0
Saskatchewan (Kleiter) 3-3
Ontario (Mooibroek) 3-3
Quebec (Asselin) 3-3
Nova Scotia (Purcell) 3-3
Yukon (Scofflin) 2-4
Prince Edward Island (Smith) 1-6
Northwest Territories (Bartling) 0-6
With the win over Kleiter, McEwen -- who finished second to Brad Gushue in the Brier final in 2024 -- qualifies for the playoff round beginning Friday. They close out their round robin in a battle for first place in Pool A when they take on Alberta’s Brad Jacobs during the 8:30 p.m. draw Thursday.
Kleiter and his Nutana foursome will undoubtedly need to win their final two games Thursday, and they take on Yukon’s Thomas Scoffin at 10:30 a.m. before facing Asselin in their final round robin game at 8:30 p.m.
Be sure to keep an eye on www.curling.ca for up-to-date scores throughout the tournament.
