McEwen undefeated after Day 3 in Grand Slam Tier 2

Mike McEwen's Saskatoon-based rink (photo: Michael Burns, Curling Canada) won 9-5 over Cameron Bryce of Scotland in Day 3 action at the Hearing Life Tour Challenge. The long time Manitoba skip spent one season skipping an Ontario-based team last season, finding their way to the Brier after an up and down season that saw his team disband. McEwen went west, settling in Saskatoon with Colton Flasch and the Marsh twins, Daniel and Kevin. After Bryce stole the first end, McEwen scored two in the second end, then stole two more points in the third end for a early 4-1 lead. McEwen held Bryce to a single point in the fourth end, then added two more points in the fifth end. Bryce cut the deficit to a single point after acoring three in the sixth end, though McEwen scored one in the seventh end and tacked on two more in the eigth end for the win. After starting the season 21st overall on the WCF World Team Rankings, McEwen has fought their way up to 18th overall, only two spots outside the cutoff line for the Tier 1 Grand Slam events. A longtime Grand Slam stalwart, McEwen fell out last season, their fourth place finish at the Brier salvaging a disappointing season. Add in the increasing participation from International teams, and veterans of the sport like McEwen and John Epping of Toronto have to fight harder than ever to stay in contention. McEwen has posted a 14-8 record thus far on the season, reaching the semifinals at the Saville Shootout in Edmonton, the ATB Okotoks Classic and the PointsBet Invitational in Oakville, all in September. McEwen missed the playoffs last weeekend at the Players' Open in Dundas. McEwen's 3-0 record has them into the playoff round, a single-knockout eight team championship bracket that begins on Saturday. Wins over Saskatchewan rivals Rylan Kleiter of Saskatoon (7-5) and the man McEwen replaced on Team Flasch in Catlin Schneider (5-3). Schneider now skips a Victoria-based team after moving with his partner Jennifer Armstrong west themselves. McEwen finishes the round-robin against the winless Marco Hoesli of Switzerland.