News Champions Cup

YORKTON, Sask. — Consider it a holiday bonus for Team Epping.

The Toronto-based rink of skip John Epping, third Mat Camm, second Patrick Janssen, and lead Tim March were crowned Canadian Open champions Sunday with a 7-4 victory over Team Gushue.

As a result, Team Epping have now earned a spot into the new season-ending event, the Champions Cup, running April 26 to May 1, 2016, in Sherwood Park, Alta.

“We definitely needed to win a Slam to get in so I can’t wait,” said Epping, who played lights-out in the men’s final with a perfect 100 shooting percentage. “It has just put us into everything: the Elite 10, the Players’ Championship, everything. It’s going to be an awesome Christmas.”

The Champions Cup features all of the men’s and women’s winners on the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling tour plus champions from select events including the Tim Hortons Brier, Scotties Tournament of Hearts and world championships and Team Epping is up for the challenge.

“We normally play all the way until the end,” Janssen said. “The Players’ Championship is typically around there too so it’s just adding one more event for us and all we have to do is keep practising to stay sharp and we’ll be good to go.”

Below is a list of the qualifying events for the Champions Cup. In the event a team wins more than one qualifying event (e.g. Team Homan winning the Masters, National and Canadian Open), the winner of the next ranked World Curling Tour event based on strength of field will be invited to complete the 15-team lineup.