Dawn McEwen


Dawn Kathleen McEwen is a Canadian curler from Winnipeg, Manitoba. She currently plays lead for the Jennifer Jones rink, who became Olympic champions, winning gold for Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympics. McEwen is a two-time world champion in curling having won with Jones at the 2008 World Championships and again at the 2018 World Championships. In 2019, McEwen was named the greatest Canadian female lead in history in a TSN poll of broadcasters, reporters and top curlers.

Career

McEwen grew up in Ottawa, where she began curling at the RCMP Curling Club at age seven. McEwen joined up with Jenn Hanna for the 2003–04 season playing as her second. In 2005, the team won the Ontario Scott Tournament of Hearts and lost in the final of the 2005 Scott Tournament of Hearts to Jennifer Jones.
In the 2006–07 season, McEwen was relegated to being the team's alternate so she could focus on her career. In 2007, she moved to Winnipeg, and began playing for Jones. She won the Canada Cup with Jones in 2007. McEwen won her second provincial championship in 2008, and played in her second Tournament of Hearts with Jones, this time as teammate, winning in the finals against Alberta. She would later win the 2008 World Women's Curling Championship that year with Jones, beating China in the final.
McEwen together with the Jones team would reach the final again in the 2009 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, this time as returning champions, and sealed their victory as repeating Canadian champions with a win. They would go to the 2009 World Women's Curling Championship in Korea, but would suffer a defeat in the quarter-finals that put them out of the medal contention.
McEwen would continue as lead as the Jones team defended their title as Team Canada at the 2010 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. After tying for the lead in the round robin the team would play PEI and go straight to the final where they would have a rematch against PEI. After going down 6–3 the team would come from behind and win in extra ends, this was McEwen's third championship.
McEwen with the Jones team won at the 2013 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, earning the right to represent Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. There, they became the first and only women's team ever to go undefeated through the tournament, winning the gold medal.
The team's success continued, winning the 2015 Scotties Tournament of Hearts and winning a silver medal at the 2015 World Women's Curling Championship. In the 2017 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, Team Jones lost in the semifinal to Rachel Homan, whose team would go on to represent Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. McEwen, along with her husband and fellow curler Mike McEwen, participated in the 2018 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Olympic Trials but did not qualify for playoffs with a 2-6 round robin record.
Following her fifth Scotties title at the 2018 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, McEwen and the Jones team went undefeated at the 2018 World Women's Curling Championship for her second world championship title.
With the addition of Jocelyn Peterman, who replaced Officer at second, the Jones team won the 2018 Canada Cup, defeating Kerri Einarson in the final. They also won the 2019 TSN All-Star Curling Skins Game over Tracy Fleury. At the 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, the team represented Team Canada, but missed playoffs.
In their first event of the 2019-20 season, Team Jones won the 2019 AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic, defeating Tracy Fleury in the final. Next they played in the 2019 Colonial Square Ladies Classic where Fleury would take them out in the semi-finals. They had two quarterfinal finishes at the first two Slams of the season, the Masters and the Tour Challenge. At the Canada Cup, the team struggled, finishing with a 2-4 record. The team made the final at the Boost National, losing to Team Hasselborg, and the quarterfinals at the Canadian Open. The team made the final of the 2020 Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts and lost to Team Einarson. By virtue of their CTRS ranking, the team had a second chance to qualify for the 2020 Scotties Tournament of Hearts through the wild card play-in game, where they defeated Team Fleury to become Team Wild Card. At the Scotties, they finished the round robin and championship pool with a 9–2 record as the second seed in playoffs, but lost to Kerri Einarson in the 1 vs. 2 playoff game and to Rachel Homan in the semifinal to finish in third place. It would be their last event of the season as both the Players' Championship and the Champions Cup Grand Slam events were also cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 18, 2020, the team announced that Lisa Weagle, after parting ways with Team Homan, would join the team in a 5-player rotation.

Personal life

McEwen married fellow curler Mike McEwen in 2013. They have a daughter, Vienna. McEwen studied Communications at the University of Ottawa. She works as a case officer with the Government of Canada.

Teams