Michael McEwen
Curler
Mike McEwen at the2018 Elite 10 Grand Slam curling event in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Born	(1980-07-30)July 30, 1980 (age 45) Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
Team
Skip	Mike McEwen
Third	Colton Flasch
Second	Kevin Marsh
Lead	Daniel Marsh
Alternate	Brent Laing
Curling career
Member Association	Manitoba (1998–2022) Ontario (2022–2023) Saskatchewan (2023–present)
Brier appearances	10 (2016,2017,2018,2019,2020,2021,2022,2023,2024,2025)
TopCTRS ranking	1st (2014–15)
Grand Slam victories	7 (2010 World Cup,2011 Canadian Open (Jan.),2011 Canadian Open (Dec.),2014 National (Nov.),2015 Elite 10,2015 Masters,2018 Elite 10 (Mar.))
Medal record Men'sCurling Representing Canada Winter Universiade 2003 Tarvisio RepresentingManitoba Canadian Olympic Curling Trials 2017 Ottawa The Brier 2017 St. John's RepresentingSaskatchewan The Brier 2024 Regina

Michael McEwen (born July 30, 1980) is aCanadiancurler fromWinnipeg,Manitoba, who grew up inBrandon, Manitoba. McEwen won sixGrand Slams in his career before his team qualified for their firstBrier, Canada's national championship in 2016. He is noted as one of the top curlers using theManitoba tuck delivery today.^[1] He is nicknamed "Magic" Mike McEwen.^[2]

In 1998, McEwen won his first of two Manitoba Junior championships, sending him and his team ofDavid Chalmers,Bryce Granger andKevin Schmidt to the1998 Canadian Junior Curling Championships. There, he led his Manitoba rink to 9-3 round robin record, in 2nd place. This put the team in a semifinal match up against Ontario'sJohn Morris. McEwen would lose the match 8–4, settling for third place.^[3]

Three years later, McEwen and his new team ofDenni Neufeld,Geordie Hargreaves andNolan Thiessen won the Manitoba junior championships again, qualifying them to represent Manitoba at the2001 Canadian Juniors. There, they finished in 3rd place after the round robin, with a 9–3 record. This put the team into the semifinals against Northern Ontario'sBrian Adams. McEwen beat Adams 8–3, qualifying for the final against Newfoundland'sBrad Gushue. McEwen and his Manitoba rink would lose to Gushue, by a score of 8–3, placing them in 2nd place.^[4]

In 2003, McEwen and teammates Denni Neufeld,Sheldon Wettig, Marc Kennedy and Nolan Thiessen represented Canada at the2003 Winter Universiade. McEwen and Wettig representedBrandon University, while his teammates represented theUniversity of Manitoba (Neufeld and Thiessen) and theUniversity of Alberta (Kennedy) . The team finished the round robin with a 6–3 record, in third place. The team then went on to beat Great Britain'sPaul Stevenson in the semi-final, then Switzerland'sCyril Stutz in the final, to claim the gold medal.^[5]

The following season, McEwen joined theJames Kirkness rink as the team's third. McEwen would play for Kirkness for two seasons, and won oneWorld Curling Tour event, theDauphin Clinic Pharmacy Cashspiel. In 2005, McEwen would form his own team ofJustin Richter,Matt Wozniak andAndrew Melnuk. However, his lone Grand Slam appearance before forming his current rink in 2007 was theFebruary 2006 Masters of Curling event, where he joined up withRyan Fry.

For the 2006–07 season, Richter and Melnuk left the team and were replaced with Geordie Hargreaves and Adam Guenther. The team disbanded after just one season together.

McEwen formed a new rink once again of brothersDenni andB. J. Neufeld andMatt Wozniak in 2007. In their first season together, they were a semi-finalist at the 2008Safeway Championship, Manitoba's provincial championship. Their first Grand Slam event as a team was at the end season, at the2008 Players' Championships. The team won two games, before being eliminated.

At the conclusion of the 2008–09 season the McEwen team was ranked 7th on theCCA rankings. They had made it to three Grand Slam playoffs, and finished 4th at the2009 Safeway Championship.

During the 'Road to the Roar'2009 Olympic Qualifier, the McEwen team just lost out to fellowManitobans theJason Gunnlaugson team in the semi-finals.^[6] McEwen thus missed out on the2009 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials final despite being the favourite in that particular matchup vs Gunnlaugson. On the tour that season, they won the 2009Sun Life Classic.

McEwen's rink made it to his first provincial final in 2010, when he lost toJeff Stoughton in the2010 Manitoba provincial final. The game was being played inSteinbach, Manitoba and as the Neufeld brothers and their father have roots in Steinbach, were treated very much as the home team and crowd favourites.^[7]

McEwen started the 2010–11 season off well by defeating provincial rival Jeff Stoughton to win the World Cup of Curling and his first ever Grand Slam title in November, 2010.^[8] In part of the teams runner-up result in the provincial finals of 2010 and in part because of his 4 victories (2010Canad Inns Prairie Classic, 2010Sun Life Classic, 2010Challenge Casino de Charlevoix and 2011Ramada Perth Masters), and leading the overall money winnings in theWorld Curling Tour season as of November 2010, the McEwen team was named as a nominee for the provincial team of the year by the Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.^[9]

The team continued their strong season that year by defeating provincial rival Stoughton in the semi-final of the2011 Canadian Open. McEwen would then go on to beat theGlenn Howard team in the extra end of the final, thus winning their second career Grand Slam and their second of that season.^[10]

McEwen's rink once again made it to the Manitoba provincial this time, being the top seed (also ranked 1st in Canada). However, once again lost to Stoughton in the final of the2011 Safeway Championship, losing by one point in the final end.^[11] The next season, Team McEwen won their third Grand Slam at theCanadian Open in December 2011. On the tour, they also won the 2011Point Optical Curling Classic, the 2011Canad Inns Prairie Classic, the 2011Cactus Pheasant Classic and the 2012Mercure Perth Masters. Later in the season, the McEwen team lost their third straight provincial final game at the2012 Safeway Championship, this time losing toRob Fowler, thus tying a provincial record for consecutive final losses previous set byKerry Burtnyk from 97 to 99.^[12] This dubious record was avoided in 2013, when the McEwen rink failed to reach the final, but again losing to the rival Stoughton rink in the2013 Safeway Championship semi-final. The 2012–13 season was not as strong for the McEwen rink. On the tour, they won just one event, the 2012Whites Drug Store Classic. They had more success the next season, winning the 2013Cactus Pheasant Classic, 2013Canad Inns Prairie Classic, the2013 China Open and the 2014Pomeroy Inn & Suites Prairie Showdown. However, once again, at the2014 Safeway Championship, the team lost the final to Stoughton.

Team McEwen spent the 2014 off season working with a personal trainer, and began spending time with a sports psychologist.^[13] However, their biggest change was adopting new brush heads made by Hardline, which precipitated a huge shift in curling broom technology, which ultimately led to the "broomgate" scandal of the following season.^[14] Thanks in part to their new brush heads, the team found a lot of success during the 2014–15 season, winning the2014 Canada Cup of Curling and winning two slams, theNovember 2014 National and the2015 Elite 10. On the tour they won the 2014Stu Sells Oakville Tankard, the 2014Canad Inns Men's Classic, the 2014Challenge Chateau Cartier de Gatineau, the 2014Point Optical Curling Classic and the 2015Pomeroy Inn & Suites Prairie Showdown. Despite being ranked first in the world on both theWorld Curling Tour Order of Merit rankings and on the WCT money list, McEwen lost his fifth provincial final in six yearsin 2015, losing toReid Carruthers.

Early on in the 2015–16 season, Team McEwen found success by winning the2015 Masters, as well as the 2015Stu Sells Toronto Tankard and the 2015Point Optical Curling Classic. McEwen's rink would win their first provincial titlein 2016, sending them to their first Brier. The team had already booked their place to the2016 Tim Hortons Brier as their opponents, theMatt Dunstone rink had committed themselves to the2016 World Junior Curling Championships which occurred at the same time as the Brier. When the Dunstone rink beatReid Carruthers in the semi-final this meant that McEwen's team would go to the Brier, even if they had lost to Dunstone.^[15]

In 2017 McEwen would defend his Manitoba Championship by beating Reid Carruthers in the final of the2017 Viterra Championship. At the2017 Tim Hortons Brier, he would then better his 2016 Brier showing, going 9–2 in the round robin to enter the playoffs in 1st place and with hammer and choice of rocks (Brad Gushue would also be 9-2 but would lose 1st place due to losing his round robin meeting with Mike). He would fall 7–5 to Brad Gushue in the 1–2 game however. In the semi-finals against reigning Brier and World Champion Kevin Koe he was in control almost the whole way but up 5–3 with hammer in the 8th end Koe would make an incredible comeback with a steal in the 8th, a two in the 10th, and another steal in the extra end, dropping Mike to the bronze medal game. Mike would recover from this disappointment to win his first Brier medal, defeating Brad Jacobs in their rematch of the 2016 bronze medal game, 7–6 in an extra end. On the tour that season, the team won just two events, the 2016DeKalb Superspiel and the 2017Ed Werenich Golden Wrench Classic. The team won the Golden Wrench Classic the following year as well.

While competing at the2018 Viterra Championship McEwen came down withchickenpox and was unable to play after the first game. B. J. Neufeld skipped the team, until a surprise appearance by McEwen in the final where they would lose to Carruthers.^[16] Despite the setback, McEwen still had a chance to qualify for the2018 Tim Hortons Brier through the wildcard game, which he won overJason Gunnlaugson. McEwen had a difficult Brier and alongside Carruthers was unable to qualify for the playoffs.^[17] Following the disappointment at the Brier the McEwen team announced they would be breaking up at the end of the 2017–18 season.^[18] Just days after the announcement the McEwen team won the2018 Elite 10 Grand Slam of Curling event, winning the top $28,000 prize money, and was the first team to go through the entire event undefeated.^[19] The Grand Slam victory was the team's seventh overall. Shortly after the event it was announced that McEwen would join his friend, Reid Carruthers, on his team throwing the fourth rocks, while Carruthers would continue to skip the team.^[20][21]

After joining the Carruthers team withDerek Samagalski andColin Hodgson at second and lead, the team found quick success finishing runner-up at the2018 Elite 10 (September) toBrad Gushue. That would be the only Slam they would qualify in, missing the playoffs at the other six events. They also missed the playoffs at the2018 Canada Cup, going 0–6. They had a better tour season, winning theStu Sells Toronto Tankard,Karuizawa International and theEd Werenich Golden Wrench Classic. They also were successful at the2019 Viterra Championship, defeatingWilliam Lyburn in the final. At the2019 Tim Hortons Brier, McEwen led Manitoba to a 6–5 record, just missing the playoffs. McEwen was officially named the teams skip for the2019–20 season.

Team McEwen had a more successful following season. On the tour, they never missed the playoffs and they won one event, the inauguralWCT Uiseong International Curling Cup. In Grand Slam play, they reached the quarterfinals of theTour Challenge and theNational and the semifinals of theCanadian Open. They would not defend their provincial title, losing the final of the2020 Viterra Championship toJason Gunnlaugson. They would still compete at the2020 Tim Hortons Brier though, winning the Wild Card spot overGlenn Howard in the play-in game. Team McEwen finished the round robin and championship pool with a 7–4 record, which was a four-way tie for fourth. They facedJohn Epping in the first round of tiebreakers where they lost 8–5 and were eliminated. It would be the team's last event of the season as both thePlayers' Championship and theChampions Cup Grand Slam events were cancelled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.^[22]

In their lone tour event of the2020–21 season, Team McEwen won the 2020Ashley HomeStore Curling Classic.^[23] Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in Manitoba, the 2021 provincial championship was cancelled. As the reigning provincials champions, TeamJason Gunnlaugson was chosen to represent Manitoba at the2021 Tim Hortons Brier.^[24] However, due to many provinces cancelling their provincial championships due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in Canada,Curling Canada added three Wild Card teams to the national championship, which were based on theCTRS standings from the2019–20 season.^[25] Because Team McEwen ranked 5th on the CTRS^[26] and kept at least three of their four players together for the 2020–21 season, they got the first Wild Card spot at the 2021 Brier inCalgary,Alberta.^[27] At the 2021 Brier, McEwen led the team to a 4–4 record, missing the championship round.^[28]

McEwen's wife isDawn McEwen (Askin) the former lead forJennifer Jones.^[29] He met his wife while billeting with her family in Ottawa for bonspiels in the late 1990s.^[30] They have two daughters, Vienna and Avalon.^[31] McEwen attendedCrocus Plains Regional Secondary School andBrandon University. McEwen is employed as an entrepreneur.^[32]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMike McEwen (curler).

• Mike McEwen atWorld Curling

• 1980 births
• Canadian people of Scottish descent
• Living people
• Curlers from Brandon, Manitoba
• Curlers from Winnipeg
• Canadian male curlers
• Winter World University Games medalists in curling
• FISU World University Games gold medalists for Canada
• Medalists at the 2003 Winter Universiade
• Canada Cup (curling) participants
• 21st-century Canadian sportsmen

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