News Elite 10

WINNIPEG — Mike McEwen’s team is aiming to finish things off with a bang.

The Winnipeg crew of McEwen, third B.J. Neufeld, second Matt Wozniak and lead Denni Neufeld announced earlier this week they were parting ways after the season. It just so happens the first stop on their “farewell tour” is taking place in their hometown at St. James Civic Centre.

“It’s good that we have this opportunity to play at home,” McEwen said after practice Thursday. “It’s not like we planned it out like that but I think it’s nice that we can play for one of the last times right here in front of a lot of friends, family and fans.”

Team McEwen has spent 11 seasons together and made their mark in the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling winning six championships. McEwen said the one that sticks out the most is the Canadian Open from January 2011, which went into overtime and held up the broadcast of the NHL All-Star Game in the process.

“We made a pretty crazy shot to beat Glenn Howard in an extra end,” he said. “Just because of the circumstances it was probably the most memorable.”

It’s been two-and-a-half years since their last one — at the 2015 Masters — and they’re eager for more.

“We’ve been stuck on six for a couple seasons now,” McEwen said. “I thought it would be higher by now. We have won this event before and we’ve been so close at winning the Players’ [Championship] like three times. I am hungry and I know the other guys are to get another one. That’s been a thorn in our side the last bit. We’ve made a few finals and whatnot but we’ve like to add to that total or at least get to lucky seven.”

McEwen captured the inaugural Elite 10 title in 2015 as the first to excel at the match-play format where teams compete to win the most ends per game. Another rule has been added this season with thinking time switched from 33 total minutes to four minutes per end.

“Even the first time around we probably didn’t really know what we were doing other than trying to make good shots,” McEwen said with a laugh. “I’m looking forward to the challenge this week of trying to win another one because it’s a unique format and it maybe pushes guys, challenges them, makes them a little bit more uncomfortable. You’re going to have the clock ticking down to zero every end now. Some guys will be fine with that but maybe some guys won’t. It’s an interesting, unique dynamic that I think we’re all excited to play.”

It’s been a crazy couple months for McEwen, who missed most of his provincial playdowns while in a hospital due to a bad case of chickenpox. McEwen returned in time for the final against Reid Carruthers and pushed it to the last rock of the game, but Carruthers came out on top. That wasn’t the end of the road to the Brier as McEwen stole to win the all-Winnipeg battle against Jason Gunnlaugson for the wild-card spot. McEwen made it to the championship pool but finished with a 7-4 record and just missed the playoffs in fifth place.

McEwen said he feels good health-wise heading into the final stretch of the season.

“I struggled in the Brier a little bit with energy, upon reflection,” he said. “I was asked the question and I said I didn’t think I had any ill effects or anything but I had a pretty bad head cold maybe almost to the point where the sinuses and things like that I think were probably taking a lot out of me, especially at the end. It was causing me to probably get a bit tired. I thought I handled it as best as I could. I probably just didn’t have the zest that I would have liked to have had and needed to perform in that environment.

“I actually feel amazing right now, the best I’ve felt in a long time and finally kicked that one. Hopefully, I can stay healthy to finish the year.”

Princess Auto Elite 10: Scores | Draw Schedule | Standings | TV Schedule

McEwen opened with a 2 & 1 win over Calgary’s Kevin Koe during the second draw of round-robin play.

Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., also scored 2 & 1 dub over reigning Olympic gold medallist John Shuster from Duluth, Minn. Shuster (1-0-0-1) was playing in back-to-back draws and downed Gunnlaugson 3 & 2 to start the tournament.

Glenn Howard of Tiny, Ont., took a 2-up victory against Brier champ Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L.

Teams receive three points for a regulation win, two points for a shootout win and one point for a shootout loss. The top six teams advance to the weekend playoffs.

NOTES: The Princess Auto Elite 10 is the fifth tournament of the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season. … The winning team earns an invitation to the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup running April 24-29 at Calgary’s WinSport Arena.