Early success for Saskatchewan’s Team McEwen at Olympic curling trials

Team McEwen skip Mike McEwen delivers a stone against Team Gushue during the men's curling final at the PointsBet Invitational in Calgary on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)

One half of Saskatchewan’s representation at the Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials in Halifax, N.S., is off to a positive start.

Saskatoon’s Team McEwen marked down an early win Saturday night after beating out Winnipeg-based Team McDonald 6-5.

The Saskatoon Nutana rink consisting of skip Mike McEwen, third Colton Flasch, second Kevin Marsh and lead Dan Marsh represented Saskatchewan at the Montana’s Brier earlier this year, where they lost out against the top-ranked Team Dunstone.

The other half of Saskatchewan’s representation, Saskatoon’s Team Kleiter, was not as lucky – losing 11-5 to Team Gushue in its opening appearance on Saturday.

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Team McEwen kicked off its second matchup at noon Sunday against Sudbury’s Team Epping. At the same time, Team Kleiter faced off against Calgary’s Team Jacobs.

However, both rinks would taste defeat with McEwen falling to Epping 9-5 and Kleiter being defeated 6-4 by Team Jacobs.

As of Sunday afternooon, Team McEwen is part of a four-way tie for second with a record of 1-1, while Team Kleiter is tied for third with a 0-2 record.

Round robin play will continue until Wednesday, Nov. 26, with the top team advancing straight to the best-of-three final. The second and third-place teams will face off in a semifinal before moving on to the final.

The winner of the tournament will go on to represent Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina, Italy.