Mike McEwen and his rink from Winnipeg are on some kind of roll this season. Tracy McGrady Jersey . The foursome has already won six events, including the Canada Cup and The National Grand Slam of Curling. They also lead the World Curling Tour money list - by a wide margin with $114,000 - and sit in first place on the Canadian Team Ranking System. Even the 34-year-old skip is a little surprised by the teams hot start. I obviously didnt see that coming, McEwen told TSN.ca this week. I expected us to win and win a lot, but this has been a real lot. This is the eighth straight year that McEwen, vice B.J. Neufeld, second Matt Wozniak and lead Denni Neufeld have been together. They were one of the few teams who stayed together this off-season and that could be a reason as to why they have been so sharp. But McEwen attributes the success to something else. There were a lot of things we did beyond just the four of us sticking together, he explained. There were a lot of things we did in the off-season and during the start of the season to kind of remake our team a bit. After losing the finals at the Manitoba provincial championships last February, Team McEwen was in a state of flux. They were considered, and still are, the best team to never appear in a Brier and they considered splitting up the band to go their separate ways. But after playing out the season and talking things out, the foursome concluded they owed it to themselves to go after it one last time. I dont think we knew if it was going to work or not or if we could get better because we kind of hit a standstill for a couple of years, said McEwen. Its not easy to identify and motivate to find those little things you have to do. We had to go searching for people outside of our team. The team made almost every change they could in the off-season, outside of shaking up the roster. They sought help from psychologist Kyle Paquette and trainer Adrian Honish to alter their view of the game. We kind of tackled our team in a pretty broad scope, McEwen explained. We looked at how we trained, we looked at how we practiced and we looked at our nutritional intake. We challenged ourselves to change how we mentally prepare as well and then when we actually hit the ice in September, we tackled some of our technical tendencies. And the changes worked. They won the first four tournaments they played in and six of eight in total. They also won the Continental Cup as part of Team Canada and took home $8,500 at the TSN Skins Game. But theres something that still eludes this squad - the Brier. McEwen has never won Manitobas provincial title, the Safeway Championship, with fellow Winnipegger Jeff Stoughton being his biggest nemesis. McEwen lost to Stoughton in the 2010, 2011 and 2014 Manitoba final as well as the 2013 semifinal. He also lost to Rob Fowler (Stoughtons vice this season) in the 2012 final. We crush him on the Tour and he crushes us at provincials, said McEwen. Its weird. Hes obviously super comfortable in that environment. He plays probably some of his best curling all year in February. And we havent. The 51-year-old Stoughton is working things out with an entirely new rink this season and could be the most vulnerable hes been in quite some time, but McEwen says anything can happen. Well probably see a pretty good Stoughton, hopefully well see a good McEwen, and I would expect to see a good [Reid] Carruthers too, said McEwen. I think its going to be one of the most exciting provincials. While a Brier appearance and possible national championship is on the bucket list, they no longer need it to validate themselves under the new team mentality. I would say in the past weve needed to win provincials to validate our season. I dont think we need to do that anymore, said McEwen. Dont get me wrong, I want to win provincials bad, but I dont have that event defining the whole season. I feel like we have a really good mindset. Theres some pressure, but its not an overwhelming amount. The Safeway Championship runs from Feb. 4-8 in Brandon, Manitoba. Team McEwen has not only received help from psychologists and trainers, but also from Mikes wife, Dawn, and her teammates on Team Jennifer Jones - the Olympic gold medalists from Sochi last winter. Shes helped me grow as a player, having that interaction with Team Jones and getting to see how they do things, its been nothing but helpful, he explained. Shes been a big part of my personnel growth as a player and I think Ive taken a bit of that to my team. Ms. McEwen still has her husband numbered when it comes to curling credentials though. I really dont have much to fire back to her very often, he joked. Its hard to get a trophy on the mantle in this house. Cashspiel trophies generally dont make it on the mantle. Chucky Atkins Jersey . When a game is in the balance, however, they still have the personnel and the experience to end up with the two points. Richard Hamilton Jersey . That still leaves a big hole.You dont replace the leadership, defensive co-ordinator Billy Davis said. You just dont. Leadership is something that is earned over time. https://www.cheappistonsonline.com/716y-joe-caldwell-jersey-pistons.html . De La Rosa pitched six strong innings to win his sixth consecutive decision, Todd Helton homered and the Colorado Rockies snapped the Los Angeles Dodgers six-game winning streak with a 7-5 victory on Wednesday night.The New York Rangers put forth their best effort of the Eastern Conference second round to take Game 5 and stave off elimination. The Blueshirts hope to stay alive once again when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins in Sundays Game 6 battle at Madison Square Garden. New York recorded a 5-1 victory Friday evening in Pittsburgh to cut its series deficit to 3-2. It was the first win for the Rangers since they claimed Game 1 in the Steel City by a 3-2 score in overtime. In order to extend this best-of-seven set to a decisive seventh game, however, New York will have to pick up its first home victory of the series. The Rangers lost Games 3 and 4 at MSG to the Pens and were outscored by a combined 6-2 margin in those contests. New York is 3-3 on home ice in this postseason, but has won its last five games at the Garden when facing elimination. The Rangers are 8-2 over their last 10 elimination games overall. The Rangers hope to build off Fridays emotional victory in Pittsburgh. Perhaps drawing additional inspiration from the presence of forward Martin St. Louis, who returned to the team one day after his mother, France, suddenly passed away in his native Quebec, the Rangers sense of urgency was evident right from the start in Game 5. St. Louis registered just one shot on goal in 16-plus minutes of ice time, but his participation in the game was enough to inspire his teammates. "We played for Marty and his family," said Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. "Thats the thing we had going for us." It expects to be another emotional night on Sunday, as St. Louis sister and father expect to be in attendance at MSG. New York outshot the Penguins 10-3 over the games opening 10 minutes and peppered Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury with 17 chances while jumping out to a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period. After mustering a mere two goals over three straight losses in their Eastern Conference semifinal series, the Rangers scored four over the first two periods en route to the blowout victory. Derick Brassard led the charge with a pair of goals and an assist, with Mats Zuccarello lending three helpers to supporrt a 31-save effort from Lundqvist. Jonas Jerebko Jersey. Ryan McDonagh and Chris Kreider each added a goal and an assist, while Kevin Klein tacked on an empty-net tally to finish off the rout. "We needed to step up tonight," said Brassard. "I dont think the last two games ... we were OK. We didnt play bad but we were nothing special. We just tried to play hard today. We had some lucky bounces and we made some plays." Kreider, playing for just the second time in this postseason after missing time with a broken hand, began New Yorks outburst by putting home a long rebound of a McDonagh shot with the Rangers on the power play midway through the first period. The goal snapped an 0-for-36 drought with the man advantage for New York, tied with the 2007 Anaheim Ducks for the longest in NHL playoff history. The Rangers finished the night 2-for-3 on the power play and is 5-for-47 with the man advantage in this postseason. "I think weve been doing some things well on the power play," Kreider said. "Its hard when you see that looming statistic. But its nice when you finally get one. I think it was huge. I think it was a really important goal." Evgeni Malkin had the lone goal for Pittsburgh, which is trying to go 5-0 all- time in playoff series against the Rangers. Fleury, who helped Pittsburgh build a 3-1 series lead by recording shutouts in Games 2 and 3, stopped just 30-of-34 shots on Friday. "They came really hard, really aggressive down the walls," Pittsburgh head coach Dan Bylsma said of the Rangers. "We turned over a few pucks as a result, let to their offensive-zone time. In addition to that we had some unforced errors." Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik did not play after sustaining an undisclosed injury in Wednesdays Game 4 win. Robert Bortuzzo filled in for Orpik in Game 5 and will likely do so again on Sunday. Pittsburgh is 9-2 all-time in series when holding a 3-1 lead. The last time the Penguins blew a 3-1 lead was in the 2011 Eastern Conference quarterfinals against Tampa Bay when both Sidney Crosby and Malkin were injured and missed the series. ' ' '  |
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