KELOWNA -- Monday turned out to be a good day for both Saskatchewan rinks at the Montana’s Brier.
Mike McEwen and Rylan Kleiter each found the win column and are in the hunt for a playoff spot in the 18-team national men’s curling championship currently underway in Kelowna.
McEwen and his Saskatoon Nutana foursome of third Colton Flasch, second Kevin Marsh and lead Daniel Marsh ran their record to 4-0 thanks to a 9-4 victory over Quebec’s Felix Asselin.
It didn’t take long for McEwen to take control of the game, as a three-spot in the third end gave his rink a 3-1 lead, and after limiting Asselin to a single point in the fourth, a deuce in the fifth would make it a 5-2 game.
Asselin, third Jean-MIchel Menard, second Martin Crete and lead Jean-Francois Trepanier didn’t go quietly, through, with a deuce of their own in the sixth making it a one-point game. McEwen responded with three in the seventh and then stole another in the eighth to bring things to an early end.
Daniel Marsh curled 95 percent to lead the team, while Kevin Marsh shot 91 percent, Colton Flasch 88 percent and McEwen 83 percent.
McEwen plays twice Tuesday before playing a single game Wednesday and Thursday.
Tuesday, Mar. 4
10:30 a.m. -- Yukon (Scoffin)
8:30 p.m. -- Northwest Territories (Bartling)
Wednesday, Mar. 5
3:30 p.m. -- Saskatchewan (Kleiter)
Thursday, Mar. 6
8:30 p.m. -- Alberta (Jacobs)
Kleiter and his Nutana foursome of third Josh Mattern, second Matthew Hall, lead Trevor Johnson and alternate John Mattern picked up their second straight win with an 8-2 win over Northwest Territories’ Aaron Bartling, third D’arcy Delorey, second Norman Bassett and lead Eric Preston.
Kleiter opened scoring with a pair in the second end and followed up with a steal of three in the fourth for a quick 5-0 lead. Another Kleiter deuce in the sixth end made it a 7-1 game, and the teams would exchange single points over the final three ends before calling it in the ninth.
Hall led the team with a 90 percent game, while Josh Mattern shot 89 percent, Kleiter 82 percent and Johnson 64 percent.
Kleiter is now 2-1 and in fourth place in Pool B, with the top three teams from each pool advancing to the playoff round.
Tuesday, Mar. 4
10:30 a.m. -- Alberta (Jacobs)
8:30 p.m. -- Ontario (Mooibroek)
Wednesday, Mar. 5
3:30 p.m. -- Saskatchewan (McEwen)
Thursday, Mar. 6
10:30 a.m. -- Yukon (Scoffin)
8:30 p.m. -- Quebec (Asselin)
The Kleiter foursome were also featured on the Curling Canada website, and you can read that by clicking right here, and be sure to keep an eye on www.curling.ca for up-to-date scores from the event.
