2014 CANADA CUP RECAP - MCEWEN WINS AGAIN! NEDOHIN REACHES SEMI'S

Team Mike McEwen continues its winning ways winning their 6th event of the season by capturing the 2014 Canada Cup of Curling. McEwen started the game by taking a deuce in the 1st end.  In the 2nd end, McEwen was lying 3 around the 4 foot.  Jacobs had an light tap in off to score 1 or at least limit the damage, but his draw was about 2 feet too heavy which gave the steal of 3 to McEwen, and what turned out to be an insurmountable 5-0 lead.

In the 4th end, Jacobs was down 5-2 and attempting to steal.  They sat 2 in the four foot, until B.J. Neufeld's 1st rock in the end, a spectacular double-raise triple takeout to sit one and turn the end around.  Right after that, he comes back with a soft back 8 weight tap and roll to sit 2.  You can view both shots here:  B.J. Neufeld Shots 

After taking a deuce to lead 7-2, and after the 8th end, the final score was 8-3.

The game was far different from the men's semi finals which was a closely contested game between Mike McEwen and Glenn Howard. Both teams made amazing shots. McEwen blanked the first 3 ends before finally taking a deuce in the 4th end.  After Howard was held to a single in the 5th end, McEwen got into some trouble in the 6th end, but calmly drew to the button facing 3 Howard counters and kept the lead 3-1.  After trading singles, Howard came home in the 10th end down 4-2 but had the hammer and scored the tying deuce.  In the extra end, lead Denni Neufeld made two fantastic tick shots, and the rest of the end was peels, which left McEwen a draw to the full 8 foot for the win and he made it! With the win, they qualified not only for the finals, but the 2015 Continental Cup in January.

After the Canada Cup victory, Team McEwen matches their highest ever win total in a single season with 6.  They are 45-7 and firmly hold the #1 spot on the World Curling Tour Order of Merit, CTRS rankings, and the money list.


Nedohin Reaches Semis

Team Heather Nedohin played a strong round robin at the Canada Cup finishing with a 4-2 record, good enough for 2nd place and a semi final berth against fellow AB team Val Sweeting.  In a hard fought battle and back and forth game, missed a chance for a deuce in the 7th end settling for 1 and a 4-3 lead. Sweeting then took 2 and stole another in the 9th end to take a 6-4 lead.  Nedohin played a strong 10th end to score 2 sending the game to an extra end. Nedohin played a raise on her last rock but narrowly missed giving Sweeting the win.  

Flaxey finishes 1-5
Team Allison Flaxey playing their first Canada Cup had a rough week finishing with a 1-5 record, but saw the team lose 2 tough games including an extra end loss to Olympic champions Jennifer Jones.  They could have easily finished with 3-3 record and we look to more successes from this team in the future.

THE STORY BEHIND THE PANTS!

So what's the story with the RED pants of Team Mike McEwen?

Some people love them, some others not so much.  But a lot of people are talking about them, that's for sure!

Early in the season, right around the first event of the season in Oakville, Hardline met up with Team McEwen.  We had made some light blue pants that we thought they would look great in.  While they liked the pants, they asked if they came in red.  We checked and it was available in red.

So we made 4 custom red pants for them.  They had said they would only wear them in Grand Slam events in the playoffs.  We kept it a secret, and in early November, as advertised, they brought out the red pants when they qualified in Selkirk MB for the Masters GSOC event, making the shot of the year in the 6th of the finals against Brad Gushue!  Unfortunately they lost that final, but came right back at the National in Sault Ste Marie and beat Brad Jacobs in the finals!

So far so good with the red pants!

Photo courtesy of Anil Mungal