 Northern Ontario's John Epping (Photo: Grand Slam of Curling) defeated Germany's Marc Muskatewitz 4-2 to clinch a spot in the AMJ Masters playoffs in London, Ontario. By Connor Simms, John Epping, with Jake Horgan at third, Tanner Horgan and Ian McMillan on the front end, remains dominant in the first part of the 2025-2026 season. Early this season, Epping has failed to miss the playoffs. They were semi-finalists in the Trentino World Cup and quarter-finalists at the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard. In their last event, they dominated the strong field at the AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic with an 8-0 record, and taking home the event title. They are at the AMJ Masters this week in London, Ontario. Last season at this event, Epping missed the playoffs with a 2-2 record, losing the tiebreaker to Minnesota's Korey Dropkin. John looks to win his first slam since 2018, Jake, Tanner and Ian look to win their first career slam title. In their opening game, Epping lost 6-2 to Scotland's Ross Whyte, then responded with a 6-5 win over Alberta's Brad Jacobs. Epping then won 6-3 against Saskatchewan's Rylan Kleiter. In their final round-robin match, they face Germany's Marc Muskatewitz for a guaranteed spot in the playoffs. Muskatewitz won the opening draw to the button for the hammer. Epping kicked off the game hot with a steal of one in the first end after Muskatewitz jammed the blank attempt. Epping took control in the second end with a steal of two, after Muskatewitz came up heavy. Muskatewitz got on the board in the third end with their single, making the open hit and stick. After blanks in the fourth and fifth ends, Muskatewitz stole one after Epping was unable to remove both buried stones in the sixth end. After a blank in the seventh end, Muskatewitz was set up for their steal to tie and force a draw to the button shootout, but Epping nailed the button on his last to take those chances away, grabbing the 4-2 victory. With that win, Epping avoided tiebreakers on Saturday morning and will move straight to the quarterfinals. Their next game will be at 11:30 am Eastern Time (ET), with their opponent still to be determined. Watch all the games live of the Grand Slam of Curling on the Rock Channel. Find the link to each game by clicking the red play button next to the linescore on the CurlingZone website. |
A five at the opening end of their first-ever match together in a major international competition sent Katie McMillan and Angus Bryce on their way to a dominant victory over the USA at the ACE & Company World Mixed Doubles Championships in Geneva.
