Mike McEwen has made it through to the final eight at the Manitoba Viterra Championship.
The defending champ topped Trevor Loreth 6-2 during Friday morning’s A qualifiers in Portage la Prairie.
Meanwhile, Reid Carruthers is also moving on with a 9-6 win over David Bohn.
Matt Dunstone defeated Taylor McIntyre 7-5 and William Lyburn battled back to beat Sean Grassie 11-7 to also advance.
Lyburn trailed 6-0 after three ends and scored three in the fourth, stole two in the fifth and one in the seventh to wipe out the deficit. Grassie only managed another single in eight, Lyburn added another trio in nine to take the lead then swiped another two points in the 10th.
The preliminary round of the men’s provincial curling championship features 32 teams in a double knockout.
Later Friday, Loreth qualified through the B finals trouncing Steve Irwin 7-2, Dennis Bohn took down McIntyre 7-5 and David Bohn slid past Derek Oryniak 7-4.
Jason Gunnlaugson stymied Grassie 5-3 in a bit of redemption. Gunnlaugson lost their A side encounter 8-5 on Thursday as lead Robbie Gordon reportedly broke his brush head out of frustration midway through the match and wasn’t allowed to replace it with a new one. Gordon continued to throw his stones, but he was just a spectator for the remainder of the end as his team relied on a single sweeper.
NOTES: Watch live coverage Sunday on Sportsnet starting at 9 a.m. CT. … The winner of the Manitoba Viterra Championship will represent the province at the Tim Hortons Brier running March 4-12 in St. John’s, N.L.
