GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alta. — Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen took care of his own business, and then he watched gratefully as Kevin Koe did him a favour on an adjacent sheet.
McEwen and his rink — third B.J. Neufeld, second Matt Wozniak and lead Denni Neufeld — are one victory away from successfully defending their title at the 2015 Canada Cup.
McEwen cruised to a 10-4 win over Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock (2-5) to close out round-robin play on Saturday morning to finish with a 5-2 record. One sheet over, Koe was dispatching reigning Brier champion Pat Simmons 7-4 in an all-Calgary battle.
The results left McEwen and Koe tied at 5-2, but McEwen got the bye to Sunday’s final thanks to his 5-4 round-robin win over Koe.
"Even if I don’t sleep well tonight, there’s plenty of time to nap on Sunday, right?" said a smiling McEwen. "I really like how the guys are playing. The ice has matured, it’s gotten better every day, so we’re really looking forward to Sunday. I know it’s higher stakes than last year (with a Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings Canadian curling trials berth on the line), but I think it’ll feel pretty equal to last year."
McEwen took control early, scoring four in the second end, and never looked back against Laycock, and will carry plenty of momentum into the gold-medal game.
"What happened yesterday for us (two solid wins) carried through to today for us," said McEwen. "It was really nice not to have a letdown against a team that was playing spoiler. We had a great game, we did our part, and things kind of worked out on the other sheet for us."
Koe will play in Saturday night’s men’s semifinal. His team trailed 3-1 through six ends, but cracked a three-ender in the seventh to turn the game around.
Team Koe’s opponent will be decided in a third-place tiebreaker, Saturday afternoon between Simmons and Toronto’s John Epping.
Epping came up big on Saturday morning with a 9-4 win over Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers (2-5), scoring five in the sixth end to keep his playoff hopes alive.
In the other men’s game, Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., turned back Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., 8-5. Both teams finished out of the playoff at 3-4.
Meanwhile, defending women’s champ Val Sweeting of Edmonton is still alive in her quest for back-to-back Canada Cup titles.
Sweeting, backed up by third Lori Olson-Johns, second Dana Ferguson, lead Rachelle Brown and coach Garry Coderre, turned back Sherry Middaugh (Coldwater, Ont.) 7-3 in women’s tiebreaker action on Saturday morning.
The win lands Team Sweeting in Saturday’s 1:30 p.m. semifinal against reigning Tournament of Hearts champion Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg.
A fifth-end deuce, followed by a steal of one in the sixth, were the deciding factors in Sweeting’s victory.
"We’re pretty happy – obviously, you like to avoid tiebreakers, but we’re happy to still have a chance. It was a good battle out there today and we were fortunate to come out on top," said Sweeting, who lost to Jones in last season’s Scotties final in Moose Jaw, Sask., and lost again to Jones, 9-3, to close out the round robin here on Friday night. "Last night, I thought I was throwing them pretty close and not getting anywhere close to the result we wanted, and kind of looking like a fool. But that’s OK. They played well, they’re a really good team, and we’re going to have to be sharp."
The semifinal winner will take on Ottawa’s Rachel Homan in the women’s final on Sunday at 11 a.m.