Team Saskatchewan finished their round-robin play at the Montana’s Brier with a 7-1 record after defeating Quebec 7-6 Thursday afternoon.
In the first end, McEwen made a soft tap to sit at least two, forcing Tremblay to hit and stick for a single point.
With the hammer in the second, McEwen didn’t need his last stone to score two. He threw a draw out to the wings to try and tap a Quebec stone back for more, but was too heavy, resulting in a score of two.
After Saskatchewan forced Quebec to another single in the third end, McEwen missed a runback chance with his first, forcing him to hit and stick with his last for a single point. Saskatchewan had a 3-2 lead after four ends.
A couple of missed shots for Saskatchewan led to Tremblay drawing for two in the fifth, giving Quebec a 4-3 lead heading into the fifth end break.
In the sixth end, McEwen was able to draw down to his own yellow rock sitting frozen to a Quebec stone on the four-foot, bumping back the Quebec red just enough to score two, taking the lead back heading to the seventh end.
McEwen made a great shot with his last rock to sit two yellow half-buried, but Quebec had a takeout for as many as three. Tremblay missed the hit wide, giving Saskatchewan a steal of one.
Saskatchewan sat three before Tremblay’s last shot in the eighth end. The Quebec skip tried to hit all three Saskatchewan stones out of the house but was only able to remove two before rolling out, leading to another steal for Saskatchewan, growing the lead to three.
Facing another two Saskatchewan stones in the ninth end, Tremblay was able to hit and stay to score one, returning the hammer to McEwen with a 7-5 Saskatchewan lead.
McEwen’s wide-open hit allowed a steal of one in the tenth end, giving Saskatchewan the win.
Saskatchewan will face the 2nd seed in Pool A on Friday afternoon at 1:00 PM.