It took six tries but Mike McEwen, B.J. Neufeld, Matt Wozniak and Denni Neufeld are Manitoba men's curling champions.

McEwen defeated Matt Dunstone 4-2 in the final of the 2016 Viterra Provincial Men's Curling Championship at the Selkirk Recreation Complex Sunday afternoon.

The Fort Rouge foursome, who won seven straight games, were guaranteed a trip to the Brier next month in Ottawa when Dunstone beat Reid Carruthers 8-4 in the semifinal.

Dunstone, Colton Lott, Kyle Doering and Rob Gordon captured the Canadian Junior Championship last month in Stratford, Ontario and will represent our country at the World Championship in Denmark which coincidentally is the same time as the 2016 Brier in Ottawa.

“It was such a strange feeling playing that final just because of the underlying story of already clinching a Brier berth,” said McEwen. “That was really strange - something that I could have never predicted. The shot at the end still felt the same though but everything leading up to it was a challenge. Never expected to have to be able to focus through a game like that and still make sure we did our best to win the championship. We did not want to go in second place.”

McEwen played a quiet come-around tap back on Dunstone's shot rock that was covering half the button and was fully buried.

The reigning Canadian junior champion was extremely happy for the newly crowned provincial men's champ.

“This whole us playing Mike in the final – him getting a bye to the Brier – it's nothing now because he won the game,” said Dunstone. “He earned his spot. He won the final so I couldn't be happier for him. Nobody more deserving than him. They're going to be a great rep for us. Just the experience itself of playing him in a provincial final, to get a taste at 20-years-old, of a men's provincial final is unbelievable. It's an experience that is going to help us out later on.”

When asked to comment on how good Dunstone's team is.

“They're going to make me retire early,” answered McEwen. “I might not have many years left. It's unbelievable. It's shocking how good they are. Like I said before I'd be lucky to carry their broom bag if I was their age how talented that team is.”

McEwen, Wozniak and the Neufeld brothers lost five of the last six provincial men's finals prior to the 2016 Viterra Championship.

They finally won their first.

“It was an unbelievable feeling,” said lead Denni Neufeld. “We had a great time on the ice. The boys played so good. Mike played so good. It's so good to win this event finally.”

Second Matt Wozniak said the key to their success Sunday afternoon was patience.

“We were trying not to give them too many big shots and everyone that we did give them they would seem to make. It was really just a matter of controlling that scoreboard and Mike did a great job of sort of negotiating the hammer and we were fortunate enough to have it coming home and we had a shot.”

B.J. Neufeld, who was named the 2016 Viterra All-Star third on Saturday night, said they had to work really hard in Sunday's final.

“I thought we played really well - by far our best final we had. It was such a well curled game. When anybody was in troubl somebody baled the end out and that's why it resulted in so many blanks. We had to work hard. They played very well and we expected them to play well. We wanted to have our best and today it was just good enough to win.”

The 2016 Brier takes place March 5th to 13th in Ottawa.

The 2017 Viterra Championship will be held in Portage la Prairie.