YORKTON - It’s barely October so most of us are not exactly in the swing of what we generally consider winter sports.
But, if you are a high end curler – like the Mike McEwen led foursome from Saskatchewan – you are already solidly into a new season.
“We’ve been curling since Aug. 15,” McEwen told Yorkton This Week in a recent interview. “The season’s well under way for us.”
McEwen admitted their August start was somewhat unusual.
“We were probably one of the earliest Canadian teams to get going,” he said,
Of course their early start was a sort of fun one as they headed to Scotland to play an event. McEwen said they headed over with almost no ice time ahead of the event, so they were hardly in top game shape.
“We didn’t put a ton of expectations on ourselves for that event,” he said, adding it was more about “spending some time with the team,” to build chemistry ahead of what is increasingly a long season.
“It’s an extremely long year and with that comes challenges,” said McEwen, adding that means having to deal with the fatigues of the game – physical fatigues especially for hardworking sweepers, and mental fatigue for the skip who must game manage game-after-game. “Each of us is going to experience fatigue in a different way.”
In his own case McEwen said he tries to draw upon a lot of years on the ice to maintain an even and generally relaxed approach.
“I’ve seen so much – really missed calls don’t bother me,” he said.
McEwen added he recognizes his role as skip is to be a steadying force.
“That’s my job, and I think it’s one of my biggest assets . . . game management,” he said.
McEwen also noted he does not like missing shots, adding a missed shot will linger longer in his mind – “the shots I should make most of the time.”
The early start was also planned because this is a big year in curling with the Olympic trials in late November, noted McEwen so getting the team on the ice early was seen as important as the team readies for that challenge.
That is where time together building chemistry is huge, and McEwen says he senses it is working with this group – Colton Flasch, Kevin Marsh and Dan Marsh.
“We’re getting to the point we’re kind of acting as one entity,” he said.
And while the team headed to Scotland without my on ice prep, that has changed.
“We’ve put in a good volume of training,” said McEwen.
That training has obviously work. The team rolled into Edmonton for the Saville Shootout and won.
Next up was an event in Okotoks, Alta., and another win for the team.
“Things kind of held together in Okotoks,” said McEwen, adding “I probably wasn’t 100 per cent,” but they found a way to win.
In that sense it was a good win to know they could fashion a win when the skip was self-admittedly “not feeling it as a thrower.”
Action heated up with the 2024 PointsBet Invitational in Calgary this weekend and another big win for McEwen and company, this time an 8-3 win over Brad Gushue Sunday.
Now it is a case of staying consistent as the HearingLife Tour Challenge in Charlottetown this weekend.
While McEwen holds a wild card berth to the 2025 Canadian Brier, he noted “points are a commodity” and teams need to collect them whenever they can for world standings – especially for teams outside the top-10.
Still, McEwen said you will lose games and that can’t always be the measuring stick of success.
“I think it’s important to separate the results from the process . . . are you getting better? . . . are you more cohesive as a team” he asked.
In the case of Team McEwen they came so close last year to a Brier win, that they are hungry to take the next step.
“We know what it’s going to take. It gives you a clear vision, a clear path of what it’s going to take to win,” offered McEwen.
