John Epping and his team from Toronto are off to the Recharge with Milk Ontario Tankard final following an 8-3 victory in nine ends over Mark Kean Saturday night in Dorchester, Ont.
Kean won their round-robin meeting and held the hammer to start the page 1-vs-2 playoff game. The Stoney Creek native kept the house clean and blanked the first but with a quarry of rocks in the rings during the second, Kean used his final shot to nudge another of his onto the button and score a point to go up 1-0.
Epping blanked the third end and took two in the fourth. Kean hit and rolled with his final rock in the fifth but stayed for shot to even it 2-2.
Sweepers Tim March and Patrick Janssen dragged Epping’s final stone in the sixth to the lid and a close measurement gave them the single and a 3-2 lead. Kean attempted to blank the seventh but stuck for one.
Epping broke out with a three-ender in the eighth to snap the tie and take a 6-3 lead. He put on the pressure in the ninth to lie two and stole the pair when Kean’s final shot wrecked on a guard leading to handshakes.
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Kean drops to the semifinal and will take on Peter Corner, whose team stole points in the ninth and 10th and then swiped three in the extra end to defeat Colin Dow 10-7 in the 3-vs-4 game.
Dow opened with a 3-0 lead after three ends but Corner evened it with a trio of points in four. Corner pulled ahead 4-3 stealing one in the fifth before Dow bounced back scoring three in the sixth and stealing a single in the seventh.
Corner was held to a point in eight and Dow gave up a single in nine to hold the hammer for the 10th but his final shot rolled too heavy, tying the game and forcing the extra frame. Dow faced three with his final shot in the 11th but it came up light and didn’t make it to the rings.
Dow eliminated defending champion Greg Balsdon 12-7 during the morning tiebreaker draw. Dow earned four-enders in the second and sixth ends and iced the game scoring three in the eighth. Skip Wayne Middaugh landed his final shot of the 10th right on the milk cap to help Team Corner edge Ian MacAulay 6-5.
