Brier Day 1: Team Saskatchewan opens against Prince Edward Island

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Team Saskatchewan is off to a good start at the 2024 Montana’s Brier in Regina.

On Friday night, Mike McEwen and company picked up a 7-6 win over Prince Edward Island’s Tyler Smith in the opening draw of the Canadian men’s curling championship in front of 4,837 fans at the Brandt Centre.

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McEwen’s team — featuring third Colton Flasch, second Kevin Marsh and lead Daniel Marsh — found themselves down early as Smith opened the scoring with an open-draw deuce in the first end.

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In the second, McEwen responded with an open hit to score one, making it a 2-1 game before Smith added a single in the third to go up 3-1.

In the fourth, McEwen tied the game 3-3 after making a delicate takeout to score two.

Then in the fifth, the momentum continued to turn in Saskatchewan’s favour as Smith missed a takeout with his final rock, which resulted in a steal of two for Saskatchewan to give them a 5-3 lead.

After a blank end in the sixth, Smith tied the game 5-5 with a deuce in the seventh.

McEwen scored a single in the eighth with an open draw to the button to take a 6-5 lead before Smith scored a single on an open draw in the ninth to tie it 6-6.

Saskatchewan looked to be in some trouble in the final end with Nova Scotia sitting two early, but Flasch made a raise double takeout to erase the Nova Scotia threat.

From there, McEwen had an easy hit-and-stick for the win, which he made with his final stone to pick up the 7-6 victory.

“I didn’t really want to draw full four (foot) or side button against one or two and that’s what it was looking like,” McEwen told media after the game. “Colton really came through for us.

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“That was the game-winning shot.”

“It was about time,” Flasch said of 10th-end shot. “I needed to make something; I wasn’t really playing the greatest today.

“Came through with the right one at the right time.”

P.E.I. came into the Brier as the 14th ranked team in the 18-team field and proved to be a worthy opponent against the sixth-ranked Saskatchewan squad.

“They pushed us really hard,” said McEwen. “They played better than I expected.

“We had to really dig deep to pull that out.”

As the home team at this year’s Brier, McEwen said his Saskatoon-based squad also felt the support of the Saskatchewan fans throughout the game.

“You could tell the crowd was really into it,” said McEwen. “That’s the best feeling in the world.

“It’s like an adrenaline rush. Hopefully we can (continue) to do that; I’m going to get addicted to that all week.”

Next up for Saskatchewan is a match against two-time defending champion Brad Gushue and Team Canada on Saturday night at 6 p.m. in Pool B action.

And McEwen hopes the momentum gained on Friday night can carry through on Saturday.

“Sometimes you don’t know you’re going to get tested like that the first game,” said McEwen. “It’s nice to go the distance and have to make some big shots at the end to win a game.

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“That’s what it’s going to take to beat a team like Brad Gushue.”

Other Draw 1 scores

Canada (Gushue) 7, Nova Scotia (Manuel) 4

Gushue had no problem picking up his first win of the Brier over Nova Scotia’s Matthew Manuel, in a game that featured an unruly fan.

The Newfoundland rink got out to a 3-1 lead through three ends before scoring deuces in the seventh and ninth to win 7-4.

Alberta (Sluchinski) 8, Alberta (Koe) 4

In a rematch of the Alberta final, Aaron Sluchinski picked up his second straight win over Kevin Koe after also defeating him in the provincial championship.

Sluchinski — who is in his first Brier — got out to the early 3-0 lead before Koe tied it 4-4 after the seventh end. Sluchinski then scored one in the eighth and then stole one in the ninth and another two in the final end to win 8-4.

Northwest Territories (Koe) 7, Quebec (Tremblay) 4

Veteran Jamie Koe and his Northwest Territories squad picked up an opening night Brier win with a 7-4 victory over Brier rookie Julien Tremblay and Team Quebec.

The tight game turned in Koe’s favour in the eighth when he scored the first deuce of the match, before picking up another deuce in the final end to secure the 7-4 victory.

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Saturday’s schedule

Draw 2 – 1 p.m.

• Manitoba (Carruthers) vs. Manitoba (Dunstone)
• Alberta (Bottcher) vs. Newfoundland (Symonds)
• B.C. (Schneider) vs. Ontario (Howard)
• Northern Ontario (Bonot) vs. New Brunswick (Grattan)

Draw 3 – 6 p.m.

• Saskatchewan (McEwen) vs. Canada (Gushue)
• Alberta (Koe) vs. Northwest Territories (Koe)
• Quebec (Tremblay) vs. Nunavut (Latimer)
• P.E.I. (Smith) vs. Nova Scotia (Manuel)

Pool B standings after Day 1

1. Canada (Gushue) 1-0
2. Saskatchewan (McEwen) 1-0
3. Alberta (Sluchinski) 1-0
4. Northwest Territories (Koe) 1-0
5. Nunavut (Latimer) 0-0
6. Quebec (Tremblay) 0-1
7. Alberta (Koe) 0-1
8. Nova Scotia (Manuel) 0-1
9. P.E.I (Smith) 0-1

*the top three teams from each pool make the playoffs

tshire@postmedia.com

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