The 2025 Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials is a pressure-cooker event. It is no secret that the week is full of emotions, with highs and lows as teams vie for glory in this once-every-four-years event.
For Mike McEwen, now competing at his fourth Montana’s Canadian Trials, the emotional roller coaster is nothing new. He’s experienced nearly every high and low the event can offer, including a runner-up finish at the 2017 Trials in Ottawa. Yet even with that experience, the weight of this moment is never lighter.
This year, his team from Saskatoon, including third Colton Flasch, second/vice-skip Kevin Marsh, lead Dan Marsh, alternate Brent Laing and coach Pat Simmons, arrive in Halifax determined to go one step further at the Scotiabank Centre.
The campaign started on a positive note, edging Team Jordon McDonald of Winnipeg 6-5 in the men’s opening round-robin draw.
“That’s a challenge because everybody likes to kind of say it’s a different event, and it is. So it’s a challenge to not treat it differently than, say, a regular national championship,” McEwen said. “I think it’s easy to get caught up with allowing more pressure to fall on your shoulders. The crowd vibe is usually a little more intense, right? It’s easy to absorb that.”
Trailing by one in the 10th, Team McEwen made a draw to the eight-foot for a game-winning deuce and earned its first win of the event.
While Team McEwen outshot its opposition by 10 percentage points (87 per cent to 77 per cent), Team McDonald kept itself in the game with some highlight reel shots. Tied at four in the seventh, Team McEwen looked to have Team McDonald stumped by sitting three counters in the top four-foot. Team McDonald had few options and was forced to play an around-the-horn, an electrifying shot the 22-year-old skip would make, to keep itself in the game and bring the crowd of 5,593 to its feet.
Unfazed, Team McEwen blanked the eighth and ninth ends to keep the hammer in the 10th frame, which set up the team’s game-winning deuce and held off the surge of a young Team McDonald playing with nothing to lose.
“I left a lot of points on the board, personally. Had a pretty straightforward shot for three earlier on, another shot on eight where I left him a double that I shouldn’t have left him. So, unfortunately, I didn’t perform like I would have liked to tonight,” McEwen said. “
This past quadrennial, McEwen retooled his lineup, landing with the Saskatoon-based crew that found success quickly, including a silver-medal finish at the 2024 Montana’s Brier in Regina.
Those kinds of results can weigh on a skip, who is aiming to be part of the three-team playoffs later this week. But the 45-year-old skip is also keeping everything in perspective.
“I’ve got to try and keep it light out there. Look up (at the crowd), take pauses. Look around and enjoy it. You’ve got to find a way to enjoy it because it is more intense. Everybody, from the players on the ice to the fans in the crowd, there’s a different level of intensity,” McEwen said.
In other Saturday evening action Winnipeg’s Matt Dunstone opened with a 6-3 win against Team John Epping of Sudbury, Ont.; Team Kevin Koe of Calgary earned a 6-5 win against the defending Canadian men’s champions, Team Brad Jacobs, also of Calgary; and Team Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., got out of the gates with an 11-5 victory against Saskatoon’s Team Rylan Kleiter.
The 2025 Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials continue with draws Sunday at 9 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. (all times Atlantic).
Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2025 Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials are available by CLICKING HERE.
TSN and RDS will provide coverage of the 2025 Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule.
For ticket information for the 2025 Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials, go to www.curling.ca/2025trials/tickets.
This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/fr/2025trials/nouvelles.
