Carruthers Wins Viterra Championship
Reid Carruthers and his 2015 Manitoba champion team from West St. Paul (Braeden Moskowy, Derek Samagalski, Colin Hodgson) have earned their second trip to the Tim Hortons Brier.
Team Carruthers will represent Manitoba in Regina in early March after defeating two-time defending champion Mike McEwen and his Fort Rouge team of BJ Neufeld, Matt Wozniak, Denni Neufeld in the Viterra Championship final Sunday in Winkler.
Carruthers led 4-2 at the mid-game break and 6-3 after seven ends but McEwen scored two and stole another to tie the score at 6-6 coming home. Facing two, Carruthers’s last shot takeout was on the nose for a 7-6 victory.
Team McEwen, playing with three, won the morning semi-final 6-2 over junior champion JT Ryan (Assiniboine Memorial). McEwen received a huge ovation when he returned to the ice for the final game although he did throw the third’s stones for his team.
It was the third provincial final in the last four years for Carruthers who lost to McEwen a year ago after beating him in 2015. Team Carruthers was undefeated in winning the 2018 title.
