Maple wins both mixed fours games over Shield to stave off elimination

TORONTO — Maple United lived up to its name during Saturday’s mixed fours games in Rock League at TMU Mattamy Athletic Centre.

Entering the day sitting in the sixth and final spot in the standings, Maple needed to win both games of the match against top-seeded Shield Curling Club to remain in the mix for Sunday’s semifinals. 

A tough task ahead considering Shield had just swept Maple in Friday evening’s round-robin finale, but Saturday offered a fresh chance with the format switching from men’s fours, women’s fours and mixed doubles to mixed fours.

Lo and behold, Maple was united, with matching 5-4 victories, to stave off elimination.

"We were pretty down last night, but I felt the energy with my team," said Mike McEwen, who skipped one of Maple's teams. "I think a sheet over, the same thing. We were firing and just the mood was a complete flip today. Yeah, wow, what a turnaround, and that was fun.

"That's going to be one of the highlights of my year playing that game. That was really fun."

McEwen was supported by third Xenia Schwaller, second Tanner Horgan and lead Karlee Burgess. They faced Shield’s Kerri Einarson, who threw third and skipped the game, fourth Benoît Schwarz-van Berkel, second Amos Mosaner and lead Agnes Knochenhauer.

"At what point can you say, hey, I just played with the current world champion (Schwaller) and Canadian champion (Burgess) ladies on my mixed team," McEwen said. "Like, when does that happen?"

McEwen, who is the oldest player in Rock League at age 45, said the last time he played mixed fours was probably when he captured the Manitoba provincial title in 2003. Schwaller, one of the youngest in the league, was just a baby then.

"It's been a while since I've played mixed fours. That was really enjoyable," said McEwen, who credited Maple GM Glenn Howard for putting together a great team. "Great dynamics, great shooters. It just all came together."

The synergy was on point as both Maple teams held the all-important hammer in the final end while trailing by a point.

After McEwen connected on a hit for two on his last to secure the win for his squad, the attention shifted over to the other sheet as Ross Whyte had an opportunity to draw to the pinhole for two and the win. Whyte covered part of the pin but not enough according to the on-ice play co-ordinator. 

That pushed the game into a shootout, with Shield captain Brad Jacobs' shooter sliding to the back of the button. Whyte just needed to replicate his last shot from the seventh end to outcount the Shield stone, easier said than done, and vice skip Rachel Homan leaped into action to help sweepers Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman drag it far enough onto the lid.

Jacobs was joined by third Tracy Fleury, second Jake Horgan and lead Carole Howald. 

Shield (3.5 points) needed to win only one of the two games to secure a playoff spot and had to wait until Alpine eliminated Frontier in the late afternoon match to clinch.

After getting blanked Friday night, McEwen said the players got a bite to eat and sat down as an entire team to map everything out.

"Again, you're playing with a new team. OK, what systems are we using for numbers and weight calling? Are we going to rely on Tanner to swivel a lot, or are we just going to kind of do our roles and less chaos and deciding those things, so trying to make it as smooth a transition as possible," McEwen said. "We leaned on that versus making anybody try to do too much of something and it worked."

McEwen had been throwing lead stones and skipping the men's team during round-robin play with Whyte throwing last stones. It was an unorthodox setup, especially since Whyte wasn't handling vice skip duties either, and the men's team won just once in the group stage.

When McEwen was asked if it was more comfortable throwing last rocks again, he said, "You know what? I'll be 100 per cent honest with you. It was.

"It’s just something that I've done forever. I have periodically done some of those other positions. Today I felt the most comfortable I felt all week. I was just seeing the game really well. It's not that I wasn't skipping before, but it’s so different calling for (someone else).  ... I'm like, OK, how does Ross see the game? What does Ross want to be playing at the end? What side does he want open if he's got a draw? That kind of stuff. That's a learning curve. Today was great though. I felt so comfortable."

Maple (3 points) will now be cheering for playoff-bound Northern United (3.5 points) in its mixed fours match against Typhoon Curling Club (3 points).

The Canadian-based franchise needs the Asia-Pacific region club to lose both of its games and finish with fewer total points scored for the tiebreaker. Maple's low-scoring games didn't give it much of a buffer, with 97 total points scored, as Typhoon has 91 entering its mixed fours matches.

Should they finish tied with 3 match points and 97 points scored, the second tiebreaker would be their head-to-head result from the round robin. Maple would then advance due to its 2-1 win Tuesday.

Sunday's semifinals and championship final revert to the round-robin format of men's fours, women's fours and mixed doubles, with the first franchise that takes two of the three games winning the match.

Alpine advances, eliminates Frontier

Alpine Curling Club (4.5 points) was the first past the post to qualify for the semis after splitting its mixed fours match with Frontier Curling Club (3 points).

Alpine only needed to win one of its games, with Alina Pätz scoring two in the sixth and stealing one in the seventh to win 6-5 over Frontier's team skipped by Danny Casper.

Frontier's Grant Hardie took two in the seventh to win the other game 6-5 over Alpine's Joël Retornaz, however, it wasn't enough to avoid elimination.

The American-based franchise needed to win both games as it failed to surpass Maple and Typhoon in total points scored with 90.