Epping hot on leaders’ heels

REGINA— Manitoba’s Reid Carruthers and Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs remained undefeated and tied for first place in Pool B with wins Monday at the Tim Hortons Brier.

Carruthers (4-0) and his Winnipeg rink held on for a 9-6 win over Quebec. Quebec skip Mike Fournier (1-3) was able to read the ice quickly and made some crucial draws in the first half of the game and pulled to within a point of Carruthers after getting a steal of one in the eighth end.

Carruthers responded with two in the ninth end before Fournier conceded in the 10th.

“We had a pretty solid game. I had a chance in the eighth end to finish the game right there. There was a shot for four or five so, overall I felt we had pretty good control,” said Carruthers. “They started off with the hammer and we battled back, made it a goal for us to have the hammer tied up at halftime, you know for us, we were up one with the hammer. So, we accomplished our goals we set out for ourselves.”

Jacobs kept pace with Carruthers with a 9-4 win over New Brunswick.

Oromocto’s James Grattan (1-2) struggled in the first half, allowing Jacobs to steal one in the second and fifth ends, followed by and easy three in the seventh.

Ontario’s John Epping (3-1) posted a 14-3 win over Nunavut to keep the pressure on the Pool B leaders.

The Toronto-based rink took control with a deuce in the first end followed by three consecutive steals to be up 9-2 heading into the sixth.

Nunavut, at 0-4, was the first team to be eliminated from the championship pool.