Won for the ages
Epping preparing for first Brier appearance next month after first Tankard win
Peterborough’s John Epping checked another item off his curling bucket list on Sunday.
Epping, who represents the Leaside Curling Club, captured his first Recharge With Milk Ontario Tankard on Sunday afternoon, beating defending champion Glenn Howard 5-1 at the Huntsville Curling Club.
Epping, 34 and making his 12th Tankard appearance, is the first Peterborough-born skip to win the provincial men’s curling championship in 66 years. He will now represent Ontario at the 2018 Tim Hortons Canadian Brier from March 3 to 11 in Regina, Sask.
“This is something I’ve been chasing since I was a kid. It’s been on the bucket list,” Epping told The Examiner by phone Sunday night. “It was pure excitement right after we won. A lot of happiness and joy and hugs and tears, too. Now, it’s a feeling of relief.”
Dr. Ralph Clark, representing the Peterborough Curling Club in 1952, is the only other Peterborough curler to skip a Tankard champion.
“I hope it’s the first of many,” Epping said. “I hope I have a few left in me.”
Epping is the first Peterborough curler to win a provincial men’s title since Jamie Farnell as second for Greg Balsdon in 2014. Neil Harrison, who won many Tankards as lead for Ed Werenich, is the only Peterborough curler to have won Canadian and world championships.
Epping enters the Brier with teammates Tim March (lead), Patrick Janssen (second) and Mat Camm (third) as the No. 8-ranked team on the World Curling Tour.
“It’s a dream come true,” sad Epping, who was an Ontario junior champion in 2004. “For me. My family. It’s a really special day. They live, breath and sweat curling and they know how much it means to me. It’s really exciting for them. I can’t wait to wear the Ontario colours at the Brier with a chance to win the Brier. That would be a real dream come true.”
It was Epping’s third trip to the final in four years. Howard beat him on a dramatic last rock in 2016. It was also Epping’s third game of the week against Howard who beat him 8-3 in Saturday’s semifinal and 10-6 in preliminary round play. In the final, though, Epping wouldn’t be denied.
The teams blanked the first six sheets before Epping stole two in the seventh end when Howard’s draw for one wrecked on a guard.
“That’s never happened before,” Epping said, of six blank ends. “It was just the way the start of the ends played out and the shots that were made. It led to a very defensive scoreboard.”
Howard got one back in the eighth but Epping slammed the door with a draw for three in the ninth and Howard shook hands.
Epping said it wasn’t his strategy to play defensive.
“I just wanted to play the scoreboard and take the chances when I thought they were appropriate and we did,” he said.
Another Peterborough curler got close to the final.
Epping defeated Cody Maus, featuring Peterborough’s Jeff Grant at lead, 6-4 in Sunday morning’s semifinal.
Epping’s loss to Howard in Saturday afternoon’s Page 1-2 match relegated him to the semifinal.
Maus, representing Highland Country Club, took the long road to the semifinal. On Friday night Maus defeated Woodstock’s Mark Kean, featuring Peterborough’s Brad Kidd as second, 7-5 to advance to Saturday night’s Page 3-4 game. Maus beat Ottawa’s Sebastien Robillard 11-6, scoring four in the sixth end, to advance to the semifinal.