'He can't miss': McEwen shines at Brier as Saskatchewan chase playoffs

REGINA — Daniel Marsh and his Saskatchewan-born teammates haven’t put the pressure on Mike McEwen to uproot his family’s life and make the move to their home province yet, but they are working on converting their Winnipeg-born skip in other not-so-subtle ways.  

“We’re convincing him to be a Riders fan and to say ‘bunny hug’ instead of ‘hoodie,’” Daniel said, laughing. “We’ve got him on those things first. He doesn’t like ‘Bunny hug’ yet, but he’s catching on. And at least this week he better be saying he’s a Riders fan.” 

Well, it’s safe to say Saskatchewan fans are embracing McEwen, even if he lives in Winnipeg and is moonlighting as a bunny hug-wearing Roughriders fan this week. The skip, along with third Colton Flash and twin brothers Kevin Marsh at second and Daniel at lead, are cruising at the Brier, topping Pool B and closing in on clinching a playoff berth.

“I feel like we're playing as good as anyone out here,” Flasch said, following a 10-2 win over the Northwest Territories on Wednesday. “The look in Mike’s eye — he can’t miss right now.”

McEwen, 43, is wearing green here for the first time, but it’s his third time as the home skip at a Brier. He wore an Ontario jacket last year in London, and a Manitoba jacket in Brandon in 2019 in his actual home province, and now he’s out in Regina representing Saskatchewan.  

“I wasn't sure how they would embrace a Manitoban, and they've really been amazing,” McEwen said of the fans, after his team’s fifth win here. “I haven't felt this good about — yeah, I've played some home Briers — but this one feels really good.”

McEwen’s best finish at the Brier was a bronze medal in 2017 with Manitoba. After his Ontario-based team split up last season, Flasch and the Marsh brothers approached him to join forces. “I kind of grew up watching Mike when he was in his heyday there, world number one for a few years, he won lots of Tour events,” Daniel said. “Maybe he had a few off years for what he was liking, but our team dynamic has been great, and we’ve been trying to build up his confidence all year, as well as our team’s confidence.”

Flasch and the Marsh brothers spoke to McEwen about getting back to his heyday.

“We talked about that as a team. ‘Mike, you were the number one curler probably in the world at one point, right? So we want to see that Mike back,’” Daniel said.  “We used that language a little bit as a team, and I think he liked the sound of that.”

McEwen did. “I think I was close to, you know, just kind of fell out of love with the game,” the skip said. “And it wasn't necessarily curling that was the problem, it was, you know, stuff going on with me. And I feel so much gratitude to have ended up with a team like this that saw something in me that took myself longer to see. I've seen it now. Now I know it's there, but they saw it before me. And that was really important to feel that belief from my teammates.

“I’m just grateful that I really, I think I had to go on that journey to get back where I am right now,” McEwen added. “Sometimes you got to go to a dark place to end up higher. And I think because of going through some of those things, I think my ceiling’s back — it's higher than I think I thought it could go, given where it was a couple of years ago. I thought it was actually on the downturn and now I think I can still get better.”

McEwen began his journey toward feeling like he could play consistently well about a year ago, while playing with Team Ontario, after a few years of what he described as “streaky” performances.

“I feel like I’m throwing as good as I have in six years,” McEwen said.

That’s all good news for Saskatchewan fans, who’ve been roaring the loudest for their hometown team this week at the Brandt Centre.  

“I would say we’re the crowd favourites – usually it’s Brad Gushue, but I think we have that this week,” Kevin said, laughing. “The support has been incredible.” 

Flasch and the Marsh brothers live nearby in Saskatoon, and competed at the Brier as a team in 2022. This being their first year with McEwen at the helm, they played a heavy schedule of 12 events leading into the national championship. 

Flasch said bringing McEwen in was “seamless,” though it did take the skip some time to figure out which Marsh brother is which. He’s called for Daniel to sweep when he meant Kevin more than a few times, and vice versa. But that’s fair, if you ask the twins. “There’s not a lot of big tells between us, to be honest,” Kevin said, to figure out who’s who. “No one’s dying their hair, no one has a face tattoo.”

That’s true, but McEwen did point out Kevin’s hair is parted one direction and Daniel’s is parted the other. “He’s caught on pretty quick,” Kevin said. 

Embracing cheering for the Roughriders and calling hoodies “bunny hugs” might take a while longer for McEwen, though.

“We give him a hard time because he's from Winnipeg, obviously, but he's looking really good in green,” Kevin said, grinning. “We’re hoping we can keep him wearing green for a long time.”