(by Jonathan Brazeau)
TRURO, N.S. — Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen jumped out to a 2-0 record at the Pinty’s GSOC Masters thanks to a sensational shot to score four in the final end and lift his team past Halifax’s Shawn Adams on Wednesday night.
Mike McEwen at the 2015 Masters in Truro, N.S. (Photo: Anil Mungal)
Down by one coming home, McEwen nailed the takeout with his last rock to erase three counters and get the four-ender for the 7-4 victory.
“Thank God I have good sweepers,” McEwen said with a sigh of relief. “I threw it kind of how I wanted to. I was really fortunate the guys made a hell of a lot of shots in front of me to give me a shot to win. I threw it pretty good and the guys had a go on it but wow did they play a really good end in front of me to set that up.
“Pretty nice to finish off a game like that because Adams played pretty well too so that was a battle.”
McEwen swept past Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock 7-1 in the early afternoon draw.
Meanwhile, Ottawa’s Rachel Homan also picked up a pair of wins Wednesday to start off strong out of the gate in her quest to win her third Masters championship in four years.
Homan defeated Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland 5-3 in a rematch of last month’s Tour Challenge Tier 1 final.
Team Homan scored a deuce in the sixth end to take a 4-3 lead, Tirinzoni blanked the seventh to hold the hammer coming home but gave up a steal of one in the final frame.
“It’s a great way to start and we’re getting to learn the ice,” said Team Homan second Joanne Courtney. “The surface is great, we’re just trying to learn the ice and the rocks and put some shots together so we’re really happy with the result today.”
Homan defeated Tracy Fleury, of Sudbury, Ont., 7-2 during the early afternoon draw. Team Tirinzoni, who earned their first career Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title by winning the Tour Challenge, are now 1-1 in the round robin portion of the Masters.
Pinty’s GSOC Masters: Scores | Standings | Draw Schedule | TV Schedule
Brad Gushue of St. John’s [with PEI native Brett Gallant at second stone] joined McEwen at the top of the men’s leaderboard, also improving to 2-0 with a 6-3 win over Glenn Howard, of Penetanguishene, Ont., during Draw 5.
Gushue broke a 2-2 tie with a deuce in three and stole a point in five to lead by three. The two teams alternated singles through the sixth and seventh ends and Gushue ran Howard out of rocks in eight.
Elsewhere, Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers edged Brad Jacobs, of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., 7-6 after making an open hit to score one in the extra end. Both teams are even with 1-1 records.
Scotland’s Eve Muirhead also won a close one scoring a single in the eighth to beat Winnipeg’s Kristy McDonald 5-4. Both teams are now at 1-1.
NOTES: The Masters is the second stop on the seven-event 2015-16 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling schedule and runs through to Sunday at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre. … Joanne Courtney will be taking over the @grandslamcurl Twitter account Thursday night at 6 p.m. ET. Courtney said, “I’m a little bit new to Twitter, I picked it up last year when I joined the team, so I’m excited to see what that’s all about.” … TV coverage of the Masters begins Thursday at 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT on Sportsnet.
Click to read at the Grand Slam website