Team McEwen and the name game

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Enlarge Image

Mike McEwen, left, in a match Thursday in Dauphin. Second Matt Wozniak and lead Denni Neufeld sweep.

DAUPHIN — Quick — name the three members of Mike McEwen’s team who aren’t Mike McEwen.

If you couldn’t name even one, you’re hardly alone.

Enlarge Image

Skip Mike McEwen. (BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

Enlarge Image

Third BJ Neufeld, lead Denny Neufeld and second Matt Wozniak (from left) are the other guys on the Mike McEwen team. (BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

While the McEwen foursome has been ranked No. 1 in the world for each of the past two curling seasons, they remain mostly anonymous to even die-hard curling fans.

"You’re probably bang on," McEwen said Thursday after posting his second straight victory at the 2012 Safeway Manitoba Men’s Curling Championship. "I might get a little bit of notice, but fans might not be able to name the other guys in front of me."

Ask the same question about Kevin Martin’s team and chances are you’d be able to name a couple of John Morris, Marc Kennedy and Ben Hebert. Ditto Jeff Stoughton’s Jon Mead, Reid Carruthers and Steve Gould. Or Glenn Howard’s Wayne Middaugh, Brent Laing and Craig Savill.

But when it comes to Team McEwen — who are ranked above all three of those much better known teams — it would appear all that money they’ve been winning on the cash circuit the past couple of years in support of their No. 1 ranking hasn’t bought them anything even remotely resembling the same name recognition.

Indeed, were it not for the fact the team bears his surname, you’d have to wonder if most curling fans would even know who McEwen is, much less the identities of third BJ Neufeld, second Matt Wozniak and lead Denni Neufeld.

And the reason isn’t because of what they’ve won, but rather what they haven’t won.

"It’s sure not by design," laughed Denni Neufeld. "It’s just because we haven’t been to a Brier yet. I think once you get to a Brier and they put that microphone on you, some of that personality starts to come out and people start to see you as a team.

"I think the really avid curling fan probably knows who we are. But the (average) curling fan who just watches the Brier — and there’s lots of those — has no idea who we are. Those people aren’t watching the Grand Slams."

While the McEwen foursome received some national television exposure the past couple of winters on CBC broadcasts of Grand Slam events, those events draw ratings a fraction of what the Brier broadcasts draw.

And now even that is in doubt going forward. The CBC last month announced it would no longer broadcast any Slam events in a dispute over money they say they were owed by Slam organizers. Last month’s Slam event in Dawson Creek — in which McEwen competed — wasn’t broadcast anywhere and some players were even concerned whether their cheques would cash after the event (they did).

While the betting is some form of Slam tour will return next year because it’s an important part of the Olympic qualification process, the smart money says it will be a stripped-down version even if organizers can talk Sportsnet into doing the broadcasts again. (Sportsnet was the original Slam broadcaster but drew hopeless ratings and ultimately pulled out.)

All of which is to say that even what little exposure the McEwen team was getting on the cash tour may have already dried up, leaving them just one path remaining to finally get some name recognition — and hopefully some lucrative sponsorships — to go along with their top world ranking.

And that path begins right here at Dauphin’s Credit Union Place this week.

"This week is all about the Brier," said Denni Neufeld. "Hands down for sure. That’s where we really want to get. We have to get to a Brier. We’ve been close, but we haven’t been there. And we need to get there."

Once they do — and the question now appears to simply be a matter of when, not if — people will meet a team of young men who are unusually serious about what they do on the ice.

They’re all former Manitoba junior champions, range in age from their mid-20s to early 30s and treat curling with the seriousness you’d expect from any athlete with legitimate Olympic ambitions. And that means on the ice, there’s no antics, no high fives, not even much in the way of smiles usually.

Which, when you think about it, is pretty much the way the game was played by Chris Neufeld — father to Denni and BJ and longtime second for Vic Peters.

But if there’s a rap on the McEwen foursome, it’s that they might take the game a little too seriously, displaying a propensity for eating their own in times of adversity. "We’re quiet and very serious on the ice and probably don’t laugh as much as the other teams," says BJ Neufeld. "And I think that can be a detriment, especially when we get down in games. It’d be nice to have maybe a little humour come from someone to lighten the mood."

If there is a team comedian, the consensus is that it is Wozniak. But even he says he’s not entirely comfortable with that role. "I try to keep it as loose as possible," says Wozniak. "But I’m out there to do my job too. This is just something we take very seriously."

The question this week is whether they can finally win a trip to the Brier so that everyone else will start taking them seriously too.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

DAUPHIN — Jeff Stoughton and his defending world champion foursome have been making short work of their opponents the first two days at the 2012 Safeway Manitoba Men’s Curling Championship.

After drilling Flin Flon’s Brad Hyrich 11-2 on opening day Wednesday, Stoughton put on an encore performance Thursday with a 7-1 thrashing of Ste. Anne’s Murray Woodward.

Stoughton has outscored his opponents 18-3 and played just 13 ends so far.

If all that sounds like a familiar storyline out of a man with a record nine Manitoba men’s titles, well, that would be just fine with the man in question.

“Let’s hope you’re seeing it again,” laughed Stoughton. “I like the re-runs. It feels good.”

But having said that, Stoughton quickly added that he was less than impressed with his team’s performance against Woodward, which produced such a lopsided score more because of the shots Woodward missed than the shots Stoughton made.

“If we play like that, we know we won’t beat the top seeds. We need to pick it up and make some more shots.”

And throw some more rocks. With such short games so far, Stoughton says he feels he has yet to get a good feel for the ice. “It would have been nice to have stayed out there and just thrown 20 rocks each and get a little rhythm going,” Stoughton said after the win over Woodward. “We threw 12 rocks today (each). It’s not much of a sequence.”

❚ ❚ ❚

This year’s provincials have unfolded remarkably according to form so far.

The top seven seeds remain undefeated heading into today, with each boasting 2-0 records.

In addition to Stoughton’s win over Woodward on Thursday, second seed Mike McEwen beat Brandon’s Kelly Skinner 7-2; third seed Rob Fowler defeated Pinawa’s Richard Muntain 8-4; fourth seed Willie Lyburn beat Neepawa’s Kelly Robertson 6-1; fifth seed Daley Peters beat Granite’s Scott Ramsay 7-4; sixth seed Sean Grassie beat Arborg’s Kyle Foster 7-3; and seventh seed Dean Dunstone defeated West Kildonan’s Dave Elias 7-4.

The only exception was eighth seed Jason Gunnlaugson, who was eliminated with back-to-back losses to Neepawa’s Jerry Chudley (8-5) and West Kildonan’s Trevor Loreth (7-3).

Four of the eight berths into the preliminary playoff round this weekend will be determined on the 8:30 a.m. draw. McEwen plays Dunstone, Grassie plays Fowler, Lyburn plays Peters and Stoughton plays Chudley.

❚ ❚ ❚

Shaw TV will broadcast live the opening draw of the playoff round tonight at 7:45 p.m.. The broadcaster will also televise live the Page playoff games Saturday evening at 6:30 p.m., the semifinal Sunday morning at 9 a.m. and the final at 1:30 p.m.