Saskatchewan’s McEwen, Kleiter both pick up wins at Brier on Sunday

Saskatchewan-McEwen skip Mike McEwen calls out to the sweepers while playing Prince Edward Island during the Brier, in Kelowna, B.C., on Saturday, March 1, 2025.

It was a solid Sunday for the two Saskatchewan teams at the 2025 Montana’s Brier.

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On Day 3 of the Canadian men’s curling championship in Kelowna, B.C., Mike McEwen and his squad improved to 2-0 with an 8-6 win over Nova Scotia’s Owen Purcell while Rylan Kleiter and his team picked up their first win of the event to move to 1-1 with an 7-4 win over Prince Edward Island’s Tyler Smith.

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On Saturday, Team McEwen — also featuring third Colton Flasch, second Kevin Marsh and lead Dan Marsh — beat Smith while Team Kleiter — also featuring third Joshua Mattern, second Matthew Hall and lead Trevor Johnson — lost to Purcell in the opening game for each team.

As for Sunday’s action, McEwen and Purcell were tied at one in the third end before Team Saskatchewan scored three points to open up a 4-1 lead. After Nova Scotia scored singles in back-to-back ends, McEwen and company scored another three points to go up 7-3 through six ends before cruising to the 8-6 win.

After curling 95 per cent in his opening game on Saturday, McEwen, last year’s runner-up at the Brier, put together another solid performance by curling 88 per cent on Sunday while Kevin Marsh led all curlers at 98 per cent.

As for Kleiter, the 2025 provincial champion, he got out to a 2-1 lead through four ends before Smith tied the game in the fifth. Saskatchewan then scored a single in the sixth before stealing a deuce in the seventh to take control of the game with a 6-2 lead. P.E.I. got two points back in the eighth end but Kleiter and company would hang on for the 7-4 win for their first career Brier victory.

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While Kleiter, who curled at 90 per cent in the win, will have Sunday night off, McEwen and his squad will be back in action against Ontario’s Sam Mooibroek at 8:30 p.m. in a battle of undefeated teams as Mooibroek has beaten Quebec and the Northwest Territories to begin the Brier.

Both Kleiter and McEwen will then play a single draw on Monday before two games apiece on Tuesday. On Wednesday, it will be an all-Saskatchewan battle with Kleiter and McEwen going head-to-head at 3:30 p.m. The round robin then wraps up on Thursday.

The top three teams in each pool will make the playoff round with head-to-head results serving as the first tiebreaker if teams have the same record. If head-to-head results don’t solve anything, last-shot draw standings will be used as there are no tiebreaker games.