McEwen loses to Manitoba at Brier, Knapp to meet Gushue

Both rinks from Saskatchewan find themselves in need of a win against two of the top teams at the Brier after the results Wednesday afternoon.

Mike McEwen and his Saskatoon rink lost 9-4 to Braden Calvert and Manitoba to drop to 5-2 at the Montana’s Brier.

With Matt Dunstone’s 6-5 win over Yukon and improving to 5-1, McEwen will need to try to beat Dunstone on Thursday night to remain at two losses. If McEwen beats Dunstone, a three-way tie between Calvert, Dunstone and McEwen would go to last stone draw distance.

With the loss to Calvert, a tie in the standings between the two teams would favour the Manitoba side.

Kelly Knapp’s Regina rink will take on the undefeated Brad Gushue and his Newfoundland and Labrador rink in the evening draw at the Canadian men’s curling championship.

McEwen’s rink out of the Nutana Curling Club, which consists of Colton Flasch at third, Kevin Marsh at second and Dan Marsh at lead, could have qualified for playoffs with a win over Calvert.

Calvert put up two in the second end after getting a blank in the first. McEwen was only able to generate a single point with hammer in the third and Calvert once again extended his lead with two more in the fourth.

McEwen was once again held to a single point in the fifth as Calvert once again put up two in the sixth.

McEwen did score a double in the seventh but Manitoba answered right back with a triple in the eighth. The two teams shook hands after that end.

Earlier in the day, Knapp got another much-needed win on Wednesday morning.

Knapp and his rink out of the Highland Curling Club in Regina defeated the Newfoundland and Labrador rink skipped by Nathan Young 7-10 in the morning draw at the Montana’s Brier in St. John’s, N.L.

Knapp’s rink consists of Brennen Jones at third, Dustin Kidby at second and Mat Ring playing lead. The win improves Knapp and his rink to 3-3 and allows them to remain in the playoff hunt, although they do need some help from other results to make the playoffs.

In order to get the win, the Regina rink did have to overcome allowing Young’s rink to put up three points twice throughout the game.

In the game, Knapp and his rink did get out to a 2-0 lead after scoring a single in the first and then stealing a point in the second end.

Young and his rink bounced back in a big way in the third end as they put up a trio of points.

After a blank in the fourth, Knapp mustered only a single point in the fifth before Young put up his second three-point end of the game in the sixth.

Knapp responded by scoring two in the seventh and then stealing three of their own in the eighth.

Young put up a single point in the ninth end as Knapp scored two in the 10th to finish the game.

It was a much-needed win as Knapp keeps up in the crowded race for the third and final playoff spot in Pool A. They are currently chasing the Quebec rink skipped by Jean-Michel Ménard, who they lost to 8-7 earlier in the week.

The Brad Jacobs Canada rink and the Brad Gushue-led Newfoundland and Labrador rink have both qualified for the 1/2 qualifier game.