Reid Carruthers is Brier bound after capturing the 2015 Safeway Championship in Brandon.
Carruthers stole three in the sixth end en route to a 5-3 victory over top-ranked Mike McEwen in Sunday’s final at Westman Communications Group Place.
"Well I would say I was kind of expecting it at some point, just not this soon," said Carruthers. "It was a team full of talent, but we’re up against the best team in the world in Manitoba in Mike McEwen, not to mention the 11-time champion (Jeff Stoughton) that we also had to beat along the way. For us, this is pretty outstanding."
Carruthers entered the provincial men’s curling championship as the third seed and lost his second game of the championship, but was perfect from there and finished with an overall record of 8-and-1.
"It showed the character of our team and it’s a really good confidence booster for us moving forward. Backs against the wall and you play your best, that’s always a good sign," added Carruthers
Meanwhile, it was the fifth loss in the final in the last six years for McEwen, who refused to speak with the media afterwards and skipped out on the closing ceremonies.
"It’s not ideal, but I can understand that he’s super frustrated. You lose five finals, it doesn’t feel good. Some people react a little differently to that. It doesn’t mean that he’s a bad guy, or a bad teammate," said McEwen’s third B.J. Neufeld.
Carruthers, Braeden Moskowy, Derek Samagalski and Colin Hodgson will represent Manitoba at the Canadian men’s curling championship in late February in Calgary.
Olympic champion Brad Jacobs joined the Brier field by winning the right to represent Northern Ontario, while Newfoundland and Labrador’s Brad Gushue, Alberta’s Kevin Koe, B.C.’s Jim Cotter, Steven Laycock of Saskatchewan, Glen MacLeod of Nova Scotia, Jamie Koe of the Northwest Territories and Ontario’s Mark Kean also advanced.
Quebec’s Jean-Michel Menard, New Brunswick’s Jeremy Mallais and Yukon’s Bob Smallwood qualified in earlier playdowns, while the PEI final is on tap for Tuesday.
