A stellar field of the best men’s curling teams Ontario has to offer has been whittled down to a single champion during the Recharge With Milk Ontario Men’s Tankard hosted at the Canada Summit Centre in Huntsville, ON.
Photo via @TeamJohnEpping (twitter.com)
John Epping and his Leaside Curling Club rink of third Mat Camm, second Patrick Janssen and lead Tim March defeated Glenn Howard 5-1 in the final to be declared Ontario champions. They’ll now represent the Trillium at the 2018 Tim Hortons Brier in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Despite having faced the Howard rink twice already during the event with Howard winning both contests, the final saw an unconventional linescore featuring six consecutive blanks to open the game. Epping then stole two in the 7th to break the cycle of blanks, followed by forcing Howard in the 8th to a single. Newly armed with the hammer, Epping found purchase in the 9th by scoring three, essentially putting the game out of reach. Howard then conceded the match, giving Epping a 5-1 victory.
This will be the first Brier appearance for the Epping rink as a whole (2nd appearance for Camm). Epping, who currently rank 8th in CTRS points nationally, is the first men’s champion under CurlON’s new modified triple knock-out format posting an overall record of 6-2 to claim the tankard.
