McEwen sets sights on elusive AMJ Players’ Championship title in Toronto
TORONTO — Mike McEwen has been trying to win the AMJ Players’ Championship at the Mattamy Athletic Centre for over a decade.
Three times he’s reached the final, and all three times he’s finished runner-up with the game coming down to the final rock.
The elusive title is also the last one McEwen needs to cross off the list to complete a career Grand Slam and join legends of the game like Kevin Martin, Wayne Middaugh, Glenn Howard and Jeff Stoughton, plus active men’s skips Brad Gushue and Bruce Mouat. Anna Hasselborg is the only skip who has accomplished the feat in the women’s division.
With the fifth and final Grand Slam of Curling event of the season on the move next year, this might be McEwen’s final opportunity to erase some heartbreaking history in the iconic venue formerly known as Maple Leaf Gardens.
“I would just love to top it off and win in this building,” McEwen said Thursday following his team’s 7-4 win over Gushue in pool play. “I’ve been so close, so many times, semifinal and final runs. I have a really good record in this building, I just haven’t quite got it done. It would mean a lot for me to go out of this building as a champion. That’s been a big focus coming up, try to end the season off well.
“Unfortunately, I’m dealing with a little bit of an injury, so it’s a bit of a mental struggle to play well. But seeing what I saw today, I think we could still do it. Yesterday, I really struggled. I just wasn’t feeling comfortable. Today was better and hopefully I can feel like that tomorrow.”
McEwen said it’s an issue with his sliding knee that he’s dealt with in the past.
“That is the one part of your body you want functioning well, especially as a tucker, so I’m grinding,” said McEwen, who has won seven Grand Slam men’s titles. “It’s a bit of a mental battle, but thankfully I’m able to play right now. It could be worse.
“We’ll take care of that in the off-season, but I was glad I was able to show up today for the guys because they played great for me against (John) Epping and that was one I personally gave away. I didn’t want to put that performance out on the ice today, so it was nice to be able to find a way to play well personally because the guys in front of me are just shooting the lights out.”
McEwen’s Saskatoon-based club came out of the gate sharp and shot 90 per cent against Team Gushue in the all-Canadian clash.
After securing the hammer to start, McEwen did a little spring cleaning in the first end and tidied up the house with a bump to raise in a second stone and convert for two points.
Gushue, from St. John’s, N.L., was held to draw for a single in the second and had to make a double to limit the damage in the third as McEwen drew for another deuce to take a 4-1 lead.
McEwen remained in control, keeping it to textbook curling by forcing Gushue to draw for one in the fourth and potting another pair of points in the fifth to make it 6-2.
The 15-time Grand Slam champ Gushue still couldn’t generate a multiple score and was held to just another draw in the sixth, however, a steal in the seventh cut the deficit down to two points.
Still, that gave McEwen the hammer advantage coming home. McEwen doubled out Gushue’s pair of stones in the house, with his shooter sticking around to tack another point on the board.
McEwen has had Gushue’s number this season with a 5-0 record in head-to-head matches. The win also improved McEwen’s record in the tournament to 2-1 while Gushue dropped to 1-3.
“I don’t think too many teams can say that against Team Gushue,” McEwen said. “We’ll see. I think he’s probably eliminated, unfortunately, from the competition, so we’re actually going to end the year undefeated against Brad.
“Anytime you can do that against one of the teams that we’re going to have to beat in the (Olympic) Trials and things like that coming up, that’s a good feeling.”
McEwen isn’t in the clear just yet with a two-game Friday facing Team Matt Dunstone and Team Brad Jacobs.
“It feels like we’ve got a bit of a Brier pool except for Team Retornaz,” McEwen said with a laugh. “We’ve got Jacobs and Dunstone coming up. I’m really looking forward to it. We’ve had a couple losses recently to both. I’d like to get a couple of those back, so I’m excited for tomorrow.”
Elsewhere in Draw 9, Switzerland’s Team Yannick Schwaller climbed to a 3-1 record with a 7-3 victory over Team Korey Dropkin (0-3) of the United States.
In women’s play, Japan’s Team Sayaka Yoshimura (2-1) stole two points in the eighth end to swipe a 5-3 win from Sweden’s Team Isabella Wranå (1-3).
Sweden’s Team Anna Hasselborg remains undefeated at 3-0 after drawing to the button to win 6-5 in an extra end over Japan’s Team Momoha Tabata (1-3).
Notes
The AMJ Players’ Championship features the top 12 men’s teams and top 12 women’s teams from around the world. … Round-robin play runs through to Friday evening. Six teams qualify for the playoffs in both divisions, with the top two receiving byes to the semifinals. … If necessary, one tiebreaker draw is slated for Saturday morning. … The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Saturday. Both finals are on tap Sunday.
