Defending Champion Carruthers a Win Away from Brandon Brier
The defending Manitoba champions have won the Page 1-2 Playoff game at the Viterra Championship in Virden and are a win away from a trip down the road to the Tim Hortons Brier in Brandon.
Reid Carruthers, Derek Samagalski, and Colin Hodgson, with longtime rival Mike McEwen skipping the West St. Paul team this year, defeated Jason Gunnlaugson (Morris) 9-2 Saturday evening to advance to the Manitoba final game. The Carruthers/McEwen foursome scored three deuces in the first four ends and led 6-2 at the fifth end break.
The second team in the provincial final game will be determined in the 8:30AM semi-final. That match will feature Gunnlaugson against William Lyburn (Granite), who won the Page 3-4 Playoff game 8-7 over Tanner Lott (Winnipeg Beach). Trailing 6-2 after six ends, Lott scored five unanswered points to lead 7-6 coming home but Lyburn was able to score the winning deuce without throwing his final rock.
Earlier in the day, Tanner Lott and his Winnipeg Beach team eliminated Braden Calvert (Assiniboine Memorial) 12-3 while Lyburn was beating Corey Chambers (Lorette) 6-2 to move into the Saturday evening game.
The Gunnlaugson-Lyburn semi-final goes on the ice in Virden at 8:30AM Sunday with the winner going against Carruthers/McEwen at 2:30PM. Both games will be broadcast live on Sportsnet with Rob Faulds and Jeff Stoughton describing the play.
For complete linescores, https://curlmanitoba.org/about-company/scoreboard/#!/competitions/4440 .
