John Epping erased a three-point deficit and stole four consecutive ends during an 8-4 victory over Jon St. Denis in the opening round-robin draw of the Ontario Tankard Monday in Dorchester, Ont.
Epping, from Toronto, struggled early in the game and fell behind 3-0 after St. Denis scored three in the first end.
The two teams traded singles through the third and fourth ends and Epping picked up a deuce in the fifth to narrow the gap 4-3.
St. Denis, of Listowel, looked to make the in-off with his final shot in six but missed completely and gave up a pair as Epping took the lead 5-4. Epping continued to roll swiping singles in seven, eight and nine.
Programming Notice: Watch Draw 2 of the Recharge with Milk Tankard live tonight at 7 p.m. ET on Rogers TV Sports+
Elsewhere, Mark Kean of Fenelon Falls jumped out to an 8-3 win over Ottawa’s Colin Dow. Kean scored deuces in the first and third ends and stole a point in the fourth to make it 5-1. Dow added another single in five and a steal of one in six to inch back into it but Kean’s score of three in seven iced the game.
Aaron Squires of Kitchener-Waterloo earned an 8-5 victory over Joe Frans. Squires scored three in the fifth end to grab a 5-3 lead. Frans took two in six but it was all Squires from there with a point in seven, single steals in eight and nine, and the St. Thomas team ran out of rocks in the 10th.
Toronto’s Peter Corner held off Ottawa’s Ian MacAulay 7-6 in nine ends. Corner scored two in the fifth and stole one in six to take a 5-3 lead before MacAulay bounced back with a deuce in seven to tie it. Corner added another pair in eight to reestablish the two-point advantage and held MacAulay to a single in the ninth.
Guelph’s Rob Rumfeldt picked up a 9-7 victory over Cory Heggestad of Markdale. Rumfeldt went ahead 5-3 after scoring three in the sixth end before Heggestad reclaimed the lead with a trey of his own in the seventh. Rumfeldt earned yet another three-ender in the eighth to pull back into the lead 8-6. Heggestad was limited to a single in the ninth and grabbed shot stone with his final throw in the 10th but Rumfeldt bopped it out with his final rock to count one and secure the win.
The Recharge with Milk Tankard champion will represent Ontario at the 2015 Tim Hortons Brier, Feb. 28 to March 8 in Calgary.
