It had all the storylines for a memorable Hollywood classic.

Ailing skip leaves the hospital bed, puts on the curling gear, walks out onto the ice to a huge ovation, plays in the final after missing six games and inspires his team to a win and a trip to a third straight Brier.

It just didn’t quite turn out that way.

Reid Carruthers, Braeden Moskowy, Derek Samagalski and Colin Hodgson will represent Manitoba at the Brier next month in Regina.

Carruthers defeated Mike McEwen 7-6 in the final of the 2018 Viterra Provincial Men’s Curling Championship Sunday in Winkler.

“I was trying not to get too excited about playing in the final and the thoughts of getting to go to Regina and getting back to the Brier but I guess after two years of McEwen winning and beating us and deserving to go – it was one of things where we had to work a little bit harder and it tastes a little bit sweeter after not going for a few years.

McEwen, who missed six games while recuperating from chickenpox, returned to the lineup for the final and threw third stones.

B.J. Neufeld threw the last two rocks as he did the previous six games.

“Seeing Mike out here today I was almost speechless and at the same time we had mentioned in the meeting that we might see him,” said Carruthers who reeled off seven straight wins. “It shows a lot about his character, his courage – to put himself out there after not playing and leaving it all on the line, it says a lot about the guys character.”

It’s the second championship for the West St. Paul foursome who beat McEwen in the 2015 final in Brandon and it avenges their 2017 loss in Portage.

Carruthers won the 1-2 page playoff game Saturday night 6-2 over Neufeld, Wozniak and Neufeld.

“We felt as a team that our best chance to win this game was to have him here,” said B.J. Neufeld on McEwen’s return for the final.

After the final Neufeld confirmed that at their team meeting 90 minutes before the game McEwen said he was feeling good and wanted to help the team out.

“It gave us the extra sweeper, the extra mind during the game, and even with a few days off is a pretty good curler. We thought that having him probably gave us the best chance to win.”

“It’s a pretty courageous performance by him,” added Neufeld. “It’s not easy to not throw rocks for three days and then just put yourself in a provincial championship. I don’t think many people would be super pumped to do that. He took the challenge on. The three of us, playing with three people, we took that challenge to heart and wanted to be successful at it. Amazing performance by him and very courageous.”

McEwen, Neufeld, Wozniak and Neufeld, who have now lost six provincial finals, will get one more chance to qualify for the Brier.

The 2016 & 2017 Viterra champions are the number one team in the Canadian Team Ranking System and are guaranteed a spot in the wildcard play-in game which will be held on the eve of the Brier.

The 2018 Canadian Men’s Curling Championship will be held March 3-11 in Regina.