Defending Champion Carruthers Wins One, Loses One on Day Two in Virden
Coming off an afternoon loss to Brandon’s Terry McNamee, the defending champion Reid Carruthers team avoided elimination Thursday evening with a win at the Viterra Championship in Virden.
In their second game of the day Team Carruthers, with Mike McEwen skipping and throwing the final stones, stole three on the second end and scored a four on the fourth to lead Jeff Stewart (Gladstone) 8-1. A steal of two more ended the game after five ends.
Earlier in the day, the Carruthers/McEwen team had dropped to the B-Side as a result of a 9-5 loss Terry McNamee (Brandon).
McNamee, a regular at the championship and always viewed as a threat, scored a four on the third end to go up 5-1. McEwen/Carruthers got three back on the next end but following a blanked fifth end, McNamee scored back to back singles for a three point lead and control of the game.
Second seed Jason Gunnlaugson (Morris), 8-1 over Virden’s Graham Freeman, also won on the early afternoon draw.
On the morning draw, #3 Braden Calvert (Assiniboine Memorial) beat Trevor Loreth (Granite) 9-3; #4 Tanner Lott (Winnipeg Beach) defeated Sean Grassie (Deer Lodge) 6-4; and #5 Dennis Bohn (Assiniboine Memorial) was a 7-4 winner over Daniel Birchard (Pembina).
At the end of the second day of play, half of the original field of 32 teams have lost their two games and have begun the trek homeward. Included among them are local favourite Graham Freeman, whose Virden team lost a pair of games Thursday, former provincial finalist Sean Grassie of Deer Lodge, and former world senior men’s silver medalist Randy Neufeld (La Salle).
The eight teams still alive on the A-Side of the preliminary round will return to the ice at 8:30AM Friday with the winners advancing to the 8-team double knock-playoff round. The losers have a second chance later Friday.
#2 seed Jason Gunnlaugson (Morris) will play Ryan Thomson (Morden),
William Lyburn (Granite) is scheduled to play #3 Braden Calvert (Assiniboine Memorial),
#4 Tanner Lott (Winnipeg Beach) meets #5 Dennis Bohn (Assiniboine Memorial), and
Terry McNamee (Brandon) takes on Corey Chambers (Lorette)
In the B-Side games at 12:15PM Friday, the losers will be eliminated. In those games:
#1 seed Reid Carruthers (West St. Paul) will play Ty Dilello (Fort Rouge),
Steen Sigurdson (Gimli) meets Daniel Birchard (Pembina),
Trevor Loreth (Granite) goes against Riley Smith (Fort Rouge), and
Steve Irwin (Brandon) plays David Bohn (Assiniboine Memorial).
Complete linescores are available at https://curlmanitoba.org/about-company/scoreboard/#!/competitions/4440 .
