It seemed like every February – Mike McEwen was asked the same question.

Is this the year your team breaks through and finally wins the Provincial Men's Curling Championship?

So many times they were on the doorstep.

McEwen, B.J. Neufeld, Matt Wozniak and Denni Neufeld lost the very first provincial final they played in.  

That was 2010 in Steinbach to Jeff Stoughton.

Then there was Beausejour in 2011 also to Stoughton followed by 2012 in Dauphin to Rob Fowler.

McEwen lost again to Stoughton in the 2014 final at MTS Iceplex in Winnipeg and then after finally beating the two-time World champion in the semifinals in Brandon in 2015, they lost to Reid Carruthers in the final.

Curling historians can recall the number of times Gary Ross came up short in his attempt to win Manitoba and we remember how it took the great Vic Peters four tries to finally earn his first trip to the Brier.

Mike McEwen needed six.

It was Valentine's Day at the Selkirk Recreation Complex where McEwen, Neufeld, Wozniak and Neufeld defeated Matt Dunstone 4-2 in the final of the 2016 Viterra Championship.

The question that had to be asked every February for six long years was finally put to rest.

But now we need to know – can Mike McEwen make it two in a row at the 2017 Viterra Championship at Stride Place in Portage la Prairie.

It's a long way to Sunday.

Welcome to day one of the Viterra Provincial Men's Curling Championship.

 

2017 Viterra Provincial Men's Curling Championship
@ Portage la Prairie
Wednesday, February 8th
Draw #1  8:30 a.m.
Kelly Marnoch, Carberry 7 Steve Irwin, Brandon 3
Mike McEwen, Fort Rouge 8 Greg Mikolajek, Fort Rouge 2
Daley Peters, East St. Paul 8 Steve Pauls, Clearwater 5
Trevor Loreth, Granite 8 Wayne Ewasko, Lorette 1
Taylor McIntyre, Pembina 7 Travis Bale, East St. Paul 2

Draw #2  12:15 p.m.
Dennis Bohn, Assiniboine Memorial 8 Travis Graham, Thompson 2
Matt Dunstone, Deer Lodge 9  Rob Fisher, Dauphin 1
Randy Neufeld, Portage 10 Rob Atkins, Granite 3
Hayden Forrester, Fort Rouge 8 J.T. Ryan, Assiniboine Memorial 6
William Lyburn, Granite 8 Jim Renwick, Brandon 2

Draw #3  4 p.m.
Jason Gunnlaugson, Granite 9 Howard Restall, Fort Rouge 4
Sean Grassie, Fort Rouge 7 Kyle Foster, Arborg 4
Richard Muntain, Pinawa 7 Derek Oryniak, Granite 4
Reid Carruthers, West St. Paul 11 Shaun Parsons, Thompson 1
David Bohn, Assiniboine Memorial 6 Ray Baker, Dauphin 3

Opening Ceremony  7:15 p.m.

Draw #4  8:15 p.m.
Braden Calvert, Deer Lodge 8 Graham Freeman, Virden 6
"B" Side
Irwin 7 Mikolajek 5
Ewasko 10 Pauls 2
Bale 5 Graham 3
Fisher 4 Atkins 3