McEwen Goes A-Side in Okotoks

In Friday's A-Qualifiers, Saskatoon's Mike McEwen (photo: Anil Mungal, GSOC) won 5-4 over Switzerland's Michael Brunner. Coming off their win at the Saville Shootout two weeks ago, McEwen continues their strong play going undefeated through the A-side bracket of the ATB Okotoks Classic to advance into Saturday evening's quarterfinals. As the top-seeded team advancing through the A-event, McEwen will face the lowest-seeded team coming through the C-event. McEwen opened with a 6-2 win over Elliott Mansell of Denver, Colorado, then won 7-3 over Takumi Maeda of Kitami, Japan. McEwen vs. Maedi The win set up the meeting with Brunner in the qualifying game, where the Swiss side stole the first end on McEwen. McEwen scored one in the third end, then stole a point themselves in the third end to lead 2-1. Brunner took back the lead, scoring two in the fourth end, with the teams trading singles in the fifth and sixth ends to leave the Swiss side up 4-3. McEwen blanked the seventh end, then got to work in the eighth end, generating the deuce needed to take the 5-4 win. Quarterfinals start at 7:45 pm Mountain Time (MT) with the eight qualifying teams playing a single knockout playoff to determine the champion. The final goes at 2 pm MT on Sunday.