News Canadian Open

NORTH BATTLEFORD, Sask. — Edmonton’s Team Brendan Bottcher beat Toronto’s Team John Epping 6-3 in the Meridian Canadian Open men’s final Sunday to capture their first Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title.

The team of Bottcher, third Darren Moulding, second Brad Thiessen and lead Karrick Martin earned $30,000 plus a berth to the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup.

Here is how it all went down:

1ST END (12:50 p.m. ET): Bottcher opened with the hammer and converted. A solid opening frame led to Bottcher hiding one rock and a clean open hit on his last gave him the deuce. BOTTCHER 2, EPPING 0

2ND END (1:05 p.m. ET): A big break gave Epping a skip’s deuce to knot it up. Epping drew with his first skip stone and wrapped it under the guard. Bottcher saw a piece of it attempting to peel it out but crashed on his own guard, gifting Epping an easy peasy open draw anywhere into the paint for two. BOTTCHER 2, EPPING 2

3RD END (1:21 p.m. ET): Flash, ah! Team Epping third Mat Camm’s rock went through the house untouched, but skip John Epping bailed out his boys with two perfectly placed draws. That forced Bottcher into a tricky shot hitting off his own from the 12-foot circle and in to pick out Epping’s shot rock and settle for a single. BOTTCHER 3, EPPING 2

4TH END (1:35 p.m. ET): Roll out, minion. An open end keeps the house clean for Epping to make a hit and roll to blank and retain the hammer. BOTTCHER 3, EPPING 2

5TH END (1:55 p.m. ET): It’s good to be red. After Epping wrecked on a guard, Bottcher was able to make a pick and lie five red rocks. Epping was forced into a pressure draw to the four-foot circle for a single and landed on the lid to boot. BOTTCHER 3, EPPING 3

6TH END (2:14 p.m. ET): That’s why it’s called the game of inches. Bottcher had a freebie draw for two and just needed to get fully into the eight-foot circle. The shooter was looking light but sweepers Brad Thiessen and Karrick Martin pulled the string to drag it just enough. BOTTCHER 5, EPPING 3

7TH END (2:36 p.m. ET): Bottcher went deep on his last giving Epping an opening to attempt a pinball shot for a potential multiple score. Epping got the tick, tick but no boom as the angles were off leading to a steal. BOTTCHER 6, EPPING 3

8TH END (2:5 p.m. ET): Epping needed a miss from Bottcher in order to force an extra end but didn’t get one. BOTTCHER 6, EPPING 3

Bottcher was on a roll all week entering the final undefeated. Team Bottcher qualified through the A-side of the triple knockout at 3-0 and scored playoff wins Saturday over Team Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and Team Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., to reach their second Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling final this season. Bottcher fell to Jacobs in the Tour Challenge final in November.

Team Epping took the long road through the C-side needing a victory Saturday morning over defending champions Team Peter de Cruz of Switzerland to advance to the playoffs with a 3-2 record. Epping then added wins over Calgary’s Team Kevin Koe in the quarterfinals and Team Niklas Edin of Sweden in the semis to also make it to their second Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling championship game of 2018-19. Epping topped Koe for the Canadian Beef Masters in October to earn his fourth title, and third as a skip, in the series.

The Meridian Canadian Open is the only one of the seven Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling tournaments to use a 16-team triple knockout preliminary format — instead of round-robin pool play — where teams had to win three games before they lost three in order to qualify for the playoffs.