Team Saskatchewan bounces back from defeat, beats Alberta's Sluchinski

Saskatchewan skip Mike McEwen calls out to the sweepers as he watches his shot while playing Team Alberta-Sluchinski during the Brier, in Regina, on Tuesday, March 5, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

After Team Saskatchewan suffered their first loss at the Brier on Monday evening, they rebounded with a big win over Team Alberta-Sluchinski on Tuesday afternoon.

“That was a really good bounce back for us. We got fortunate they made some mistakes in the second end to give us that three. Overall we really settled in and played a good seven ends after that first end,” said skip, Mike McEwen.

Saskatchewan did not have a good opening end, not only did they begin without the hammer but Sluchinski was left to make a draw on his final shot and successfully landed three red stones. That made it 3-0 for Alberta after one end.

But McEwen did not appear shaken up by the rough start as he answered back in the second end. After a missed double-takeout from Sluchinski on his final shot, McEwen made his second successful draw and with an extra yellow stone already in the house Saskatchewan tied it up, 3-3, after two ends.

“We’re not a team that dwells on things too long. Fortunately we didn’t let our body language get too bad after the first end and bounced back,” said McEwen.

• Download the CTV News app to get breaking news alerts sent to your device

Sluchinski was held to just one rock in the third end to take a 4-3 lead as Saskatchewan had the hammer heading into the fourth.

Team Saskatchewan answered back in a big way in the fourth end as they picked up four to take a 7-4 lead heading into the fifth end.

“You don’t want to fall back too quickly. So this was a really big game for us to rebound, keep that buffer, you know keep that win-loss buffer, and head-to-head kind of thing,” explained McEwen who is referring to their pool B standings.

The fifth end was a cluster of rocks in the button and in order to avoid a messy situation Sluchinski tossed his final stone out of play to just take the guaranteed stone already in the house. That made it 7-5 for Saskatchewan after five ends.

A big double takeout from McEwen to finish off the sixth end put Saskatchewan up 10-5 heading into the seventh.

The seventh round was a steal of one for Saskatchewan as they lengthened their lead to 11-5.

The eight end would serve as the final one for this matchup as Sluchinski landed one. They would call it quits after that for an 11-6 final.

“We got a two game day tomorrow so it might be a different picture,” McEwen said while smirking.

“They’re (Team Jamie Koe) playing as a team so I expect them to give us a really good game. You know our ‘B game’ is not going to do it,” he shared. “Playing Jamie Koe tomorrow is a big head to head situation plus he’s only got one loss.”