Mike McEwen (curler)

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Michael McEwen
Born (1980-07-30) July 30, 1980
Brandon, Manitoba
Team
Curling club Fort Rouge CC,
Winnipeg
Skip Mike McEwen
Third B.J. Neufeld
Second Matt Wozniak
Lead Denni Neufeld
Alternate Kevin Michaluk
Kit
Career
Brier appearances 0
Top CCA ranking 2nd (2010-11 & 2011-12)
Grand Slam victories 3: World Cup (2010), Canadian Open (Jan. 2011, Dec. 2011)
Medal record
Men's Curling
Competitor for  Canada
Winter Universiade
Gold 2003 Tarvisio

Michael "Mike" McEwen (born July 30, 1980 in Brandon, Manitoba) is a Canadian curler from Winnipeg, Manitoba, who grew up in Brandon, Manitoba. The McEwen team curls out of the Fort Rouge Curling Club in Winnipeg.

Career

In 1998, McEwen skipped Manitoba to a third place finish at the Canadian Junior Curling Championships. In 2001, he lost in the final to Newfoundland's Brad Gushue.

In 2003, he was the skip of the gold medal winning team at the 2003 Winter Universiade, representing Brandon University.[1]

At the conclusion of the 2008-09 season the McEwen team was ranked 7th on the CCA rankings. Mike has consistently placed in the top 4 in the Safeway Select Provincial Championships and is an up and coming team on the curling circuit.

The Neufeld brothers have curling in their blood, as Denny and B.J. are the sons of Chris Neufeld. Chris Neufeld was the lifelong second on the Vic Peters team which won 3 provincial championships and one Labatt Brier.

During the 'Road to the Roar' Olympic Qualifier, the McEwen team just lost out to fellow Manitobans the Jason Gunnlaugson team in the semi-finals.[2] McEwen thus missed out on the 2009 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials final despite being the favourite in that particular matchup vs Gunnlaugson.

McEwen's rink made it to his first provincial final in 2010, when he lost to Jeff Stoughton in the 2010 Manitoba provincial final. The game was being played in Steinbach, Manitoba and as the Neufeld brothers and their father, have roots in Steinbach were treated very much as the home team and crowd favourites.[3]

Grand Slam Success and Proverbial Provincial Runner-Up

McEwen started the 2010-11 season off well by defeating provincial rival Jeff Stoughton to win the World Cup of Curling and his first ever Grand Slam title in November, 2010.[4] In part of the teams runner-up result in the provincial finals of 2010 and in part because of his 4 victories and leading the overall money winnings in the World Curling Tour season as of November 2010, the McEwen team was named as a nominee for the provincial team of the year by the Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.[5]

The team continued their strong season that year by defeating provincial rival Stoughton in the semi-final of the 2011 Canadian Open. McEwen would then go on to beat the Glenn Howard team in the extra end of the final, thus winning their second career Grand Slam and their second of that season.[6]

McEwen's rink once again made it to the Manitoba provincial this time, being the top seed (also ranked 1st in Canada). However, once again lost to Stoughton in the final of the 2011 Safeway Championship, losing by one point in the final end.[7] The McEwen team then lost their third straight provincial final game at the 2012 Safeway Championship, this time losing to Rob Fowler, thus tying a provincial record for consecutive final losses previous set by Kerry Burtnyk from 97-99.[8] This dubious record was avoided in 2013, when the McEwen rink failed to reach the final, but again losing to the rival Stoughton rink in the 2013 Safeway Championship semi-final.

Personal

McEwen's wife is Dawn Askin who plays lead for Jennifer Jones.[9]

Grand Slam record

Key
C Champion
F Lost in Final
SF Lost in Semifinal
QF Lost in Quarterfinals
R16 Lost in the round of 16
Q Did not advance to playoffs
DNP Did not participate in event
N/A Not a Grand Slam event that season
Event 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14
Masters / World Cup Q DNP DNP Q DNP C QF QF Q
Canadian Open DNP DNP DNP SF QF C C SF Q
The National DNP DNP DNP QF QF QF Q F
Players' DNP DNP Q SF Q QF SF F

References

  1. ↑ "Wilfrid Laurier to represent Canada in curling". Canadian Interuniversity Sport. 19 January 2009. Retrieved 2010-02-02. 
  2. ↑ "Gunnlaugson Surprises at Road to the Roar". CCA. 14 November 2009. Retrieved 2010-11-07. 
  3. ↑ Gary Lawless (13 February 2010). "McEwen advances to first Safeway Championship final". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 2010-11-07. 
  4. ↑ Doug Harrison (7 November 2010). "McEwen wins 1st Grand Slam of Curling". CBC News (CBC Sports). Retrieved 2010-02-13. 
  5. ↑ "Man. athletes, teams up for honours". CBC News. 8 December 2010. Retrieved 2010-12-10. 
  6. ↑ "McEwen wins Canadian Open curling event". CBC. 30 January 2011. Retrieved 2011-01-30. 
  7. ↑ Paul Wiecek (14 February 2011). "Hoping to party like it's 1999". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 14 February 2011. 
  8. ↑ Paul Wiecek (February 13, 2012). "A new and worthy champion". Winnipeg Free Press. 
  9. ↑ "Canada's curling couples on trial". CTV News. 9 November 2009. Retrieved 2010-02-02. 

External links

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