Calling John Epping’s rink a longshot heading into the Sun Life Financial Players’ Championship would have been generous, but the Toronto skip defied the odds to capture the final leg of the Capital One Grand Slam of Curling.
Epping, who made the final in one slam event, missed the playoffs in a second and didn’t play in the third, upset Canadian and world champion Glenn Howard 7-6 on Sunday afternoon in Summerside, P.E.I.
John Epping (PEICurling.com photo)
The young skip was up against a field that included the likes of Howard, Kevin Martin, Jeff Stoughton and Mike McEwen, who have combined to dominate the cashspiel circuit in recent years. Yet Epping soldiered through the round robin with a 5-2 record, upset Martin in Saturday’s semifinal and outlasted Howard on Sunday.
After holding Howard to one in the first, Epping jumped out to an early lead with a three-spot in the second. Howard, of Coldwater, Ont., evened the score with a deuce in the third, but Epping took a two-point lead into the fourth-end break with a pair of his own.
The teams exchanged singles in the fifth and sixth ends before Howard tied the game up 6-6 with a two-point seventh end.
With hammer in hand in the eighth, Epping just needed to draw to the eight-foot to score the winning point. He did and took home the $28,000 first-place prize in addition to the $10,000 for his five round-robin wins.
Glenn Howard hardly went home empty-handed. In addition to his second-place cheque worth $22,000 and $10,000 in round-robin earnings, he also won the $50,000 bonus for finishing first in the Capital One Cup standings.
Howard also finished first in the Canadian team ranking system for this season and has earned a direct entry into the 2013 Olympic trials in Winnipeg. Edmonton’s Martin clinched the first spot in the trials with his win at the Canada Cup.