REGINA — Saskatchewan’s Mike McEwen won a third straight game to start the Canadian men’s curling championship with a 6-5 win over Alberta’s Kevin Koe on Sunday.
Defending champion Brad Gushue and Jamie Koe of Northwest Territories both improved to 2-1 and Alberta’s Aaron Sluchinski to 2-0 with Pool B victories.
Gushue beat Quebec’s Julien Tremblay 9-7, Jamie Koe defeated Nova Scotia’s Matthew Manuel 8-7 in an extra end and Sluchinski fought back from an early deficit to down Nunavut’s Shane Latimer 12-10.
Kevin Koe and Tremblay both dropped to 1-2, Nunavut to 0-2 and Manuel to 0-3.
After Sunday morning’s Pool A games, Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher, Manitoba’s Reid Carruthers and Northern Ontario’s Trevor Bonot were tied at 2-0.
Carruthers needed a measurement of stones in an extra end to get the 7-6 win over Ontario’s Scott Howard (1-1).
Manitoba’s Matt Dunstone rebounded from an opening-day loss with an 8-5 defeat of B.C.’s Catlin Schneider (0-2).
Bonot edged Newfoundland and Labrador’s Andrew Symonds 7-6 and Bottcher defeated Yukon’s Thomas Scoffin 8-3.
Symonds fell to 0-2 and Scoffin was 0-1.
The Montana’s Brier winner March 10 represents Canada at the world championship March 30 to April 7 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland and returns to the 2025 Brier in Kelowna, B.C., as defending champion.
The victor also earns a berth in next year’s Olympic trials pending a top-six result at the world championship.
