Defending champion Glenn Howard has punched his ticket to another Ontario men’s Recharge with Milk Tankard final.
The Penetanguishene native stole five points during the final two ends to take a 10-6 victory over Toronto’s John Epping during Saturday’s 1-2 Page playoff.
Howard topped Epping in the championship game last year to capture his 16th career provincial title.
While Howard heads straight to Sunday afternoon’s final to determine Ontario representative to next month’s Tim Hortons Brier in St. John’s, N.L., Epping has another shot via the morning semifinal against Wayne Tuck Jr. of Brantford.
Epping was in control early scoring two in the third end and swiping one in the fourth to lead 4-1 as Howard attempted to take out a counter and possibly score three points to pull ahead, but jammed on his own shot rock to give up the steal.
Howard drew for two in the fifth to claw back. Epping matched making a double takeout for a deuce in the sixth to retake the three-point advantage at 6-3.
Howard blanked the seventh and made an open takeout in eight for another pair of points to close the gap 6-5.
A costly error by Epping in the ninth handed Howard a 7-6 lead. Epping opted for a tricky out-turn draw that missed mark, bumping his own stone and leaving Howard sitting first and second shot for a steal of two with only one end remaining.
Howard put the pressure on in the 10th forcing Epping to attempt risky shots with his skip stones by playing off of a rock sitting outside the house for a chance at sending the game into an extra end. After Epping’s first try hit the sideboards, his second try connected but didn’t spin in at the right angle and left Howard’s counters untouched for a steal of three to close out the game.
Meanwhile, Tuck stole a point in the final end to edge Scott Bailey of Dundas 8-7 in the evening 3-4 Page playoff. Tied coming home, Bailey needed to draw to the button for the win and came up just a little short.
Tuck toppled Codey Maus of London 7-3 in a tiebreaker to qualify for the fourth and final playoff spot.
The Ontario Scotties women’s final is set with Ottawa’s Rachel Homan facing Jacqueline Harrison of Mississauga. Homan trounced Cathy Auld of Dundas 9-3 in Saturday morning’s semifinal.
