Mike McEwen (Winnipeg, MB) wins the Ed Werenich Golden Wrench Classic, defeating Steve Laycock (Saskatoon, SK) 6-4 at the Coyotes Curling Club in Tempe, Arizona, United States. McEwen with Pat Simmons at third, Matt Wozniak and Denni Neufeld on the front end take home the $7,460CDN first place cheque along with 34.894 world ranking points, while Laycock receives $3,730CDN and 27.417 world ranking points for their second place finish. Starting with hammer, McEwen blanked the first end, then got on the board scoring 1 in the second end, with Laycock adding their own single in the third end. McEwen scored 2 in the fourth end to lead to 3-1, with Laycock responding in the fifth end scoring 2. McEwen scored 2 again in the sixth end, then forced Laycock to a single in the seventh end. McEwen added a single in the eighth end to seal the 6-4 win for the Golden Wrench title. In the semifinals, McEwen defeated Sean Geall (Kelowna, BC) 6-2 and Laycock defeated John Epping (Toronto, ON) 7-2. Geall and Epping earned $1,865CDN and 21.186 ranking points for their semifinal finishes. In the quarterfinals, Geall defeated Adam Casey (Regina, SK) 6-4 and Epping won 5-3 over Pete Fenson (Bemidji, MN). Casey and Fenson earned $1,243CDN along with 14.955 ranking points for their quarterfinal finishes. McEwen went 4-0 in the 15 team round-robin pools qualifying round. In their opening game, McEwen defeated Darryl Horsman (Tempe, AZ) 7-5, won against Bob Leclair (Tempe, AZ) 10-4, and Geall 8-2, finally winning their last qualifying round game 6-4 against Kroy Nernberger (Blaine, MN) to reach the playoffs undefeated. |