Toronto’s John Epping is making a return trip to the Recharge with Milk Ontario Men’s Tankard final after edging Glenn Howard 5-4 Saturday afternoon in Brantford.
Epping made the pressure draw with his last stone in the final end while facing two counters as sweepers Tim March and Patrick Janssen dragged it into the four-foot circle to count for the winning single during the page playoff 1 vs. 2 game.
Epping, who finished runner-up to Mark Kean a year ago, aims to win his first career provincial title and represent Ontario at the Tim Hortons Brier next month in Ottawa. Team Epping also features third Mat Camm, who won the Tankard last season with Kean.
Howard, the four-time world champion from Penetanguishene, has another chance to advance via Sunday morning’s semifinal against Mike Harris of Toronto. Harris, the 1998 Nagano Olympics silver medallist, scored a 9-4 victory over Greg Balsdon, also from Toronto, in the 3 vs. 4 game.
Provincial Championships: Live Scoring | Playoff Brackets | TV Schedule
Howard held the No. 1 seed after running the round robin table with an unblemished 10-0 record. It was Epping who opened the scoring, however, stealing two points in the second end. Epping sat a pocket of stones around the button, Howard couldn’t get in there for shot with his last and gave up the pair.
The teams alternated singles through the fourth and sixth ends. Howard looked to score four with an Epping-esque angle raise in the seventh but could only count two that tied it 3-3.
Epping retook the lead with a draw in the eighth. Howard already held shot prior to throwing his last in nine and came up light on the draw tying it 4-4, but gave Epping the hammer coming home.
Team Howard is missing vice skip Wayne Middaugh, who sustained a broken leg during a skiing accident last month. Adam Spencer, who’s part of the spare pool on hand at the event, has filled in at second with Richard Hart moving up to the third. Howard’s team also includes his son Scott Howard at lead.
Tune to Sportsnet ONE Sunday for the semifinal live at 10 a.m. ET and the final at 3 p.m. ET.
NEW BRUNSWICK
Mike Kennedy and his Moncton team capped a perfect 7-0 run through the round robin to head straight to the New Brunswick Pepsi Tankard final in Saint John.
Kennedy completed the run through the table with a 7-4 victory over Wayne Tallon (1-6) of Fredericton on Saturday morning.
Kennedy will face Terry Odishaw, who scored a six-ender in the ninth to beat Rick Perron 10-5 in the evening semifinal. The final takes place Sunday at 2 p.m. AT.
Odishaw also beat Perron 7-4 during the morning round robin draw. Both Moncton-based teams went 5-2 through the preliminary stage.
Jason Roach (4-3) of Saint John just missed out on the playoffs but ended on a high note beating Rene Comeau of Fredericton 7-3. Comeau went 2-5 after a promising start winning his first pair of games on the opening day.
James Grattan of Oromocto topped Jeremy Mallais of Saint John 8-7. Grattan finished at 3-4 while the defending champion Mallais had a disappoint run with a 1-6 record.
SASKATCHEWAN
Defending champion Steve Laycock of Saskatoon is through to the final again at the SaskTel Tankard in Kindersley.
Laycock defeated Josh Heidt of Kerrobert 8-2 in the A vs. B page playoff Saturday night.
Heidt has a second chance through the semifinal versus Saskatoon’s Shaun Meachem, who beat Brent Gedak of Estevan 6-4 in the C vs. C game.
The semifinal is set for Sunday at 9:30 a.m. CT with the final at 2:30 p.m. CT.
