News Champions Cup

SHERWOOD PARK, Alta. — Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers made a high-pressure draw for the inaugural Humpty’s Champions Cup men’s title edging Toronto’s John Epping 4-3 in a thrilling double extra end to close out the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season.

Carruthers faced three counters and his shooter stopped just in time to claim his second career Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title and first as a skip at the sold-out Sherwood Park Arena Sports Centre. 

It was also the first career Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title for third Braeden Moskowy, second Derek Samagalski, and lead Colin Hodgson with the team collecting $24,500 CAD.

“Obviously, winning this event is an unreal feeling,” Carruthers said. “It’s the last spiel of the year, so we’re peaking a little late but at the same time it’s never a bad thing to go out at the end of the season with a nice, big win.” 

“It’s a huge honour, obviously, playing against all bonspiel winners but any Slam victory is a great victory,” he added. “To have your name on the first one is a pretty cool feeling.”

Carruthers, who captured the National in 2013 while playing with legendary skip Jeff Stoughton, finished runner-up to Brad Gushue at the National and Elite 10 events this season and the third final in their sophomore season together was the charm.

“It’s unbelievable,” Samagalski said. “Since the Slams have been out, as a young kid watching them on TV, I’ve always dreamed about playing in them. Luckily I’ve had the chance to play in some in the last six or seven years. We were close this year losing two finals. We wanted to give it a go here this week and what a performance. There are no words for what I feel like right now.”

Carruthers opened with the hammer and set a defensive pace blanking the first three ends. He was forced to draw for a single in the fourth while facing two counters and his stone hit the brakes, a harbinger of the double extra end.

Epping had the hammer for the first time in the fifth end and drew for a deuce, following a measurement, to go up 2-1.

Messy misses in the seventh end made it look like the force was on until Epping landed a little too high for the freeze on his last and Carruthers capitalized to draw for a piece of the button to count two and reclaim the one-point lead. Epping drew for just a single in eight to send it into overtime.

Carruthers had a chance to hit and stick for the win in the first extra end but rolled out to clear the house. Although Carruthers and Epping had rocks sitting near the edge of the 12-foot circle, both were measured out to draw the blank and require a rare double extra to extend the season for yet another end. 

“Derek had made an unbelievable shot, which had basically won the game for us, especially if I had made that hit and roll or made the hit, obviously,” Carruthers said. “Just a little bit nervous. I was thinking a little bit too much when I was throwing the last rock. It’s a spot that curls, so instead of focusing on just throwing the rock good I thought about the fact that it was going to curl and I threw it a little more positive than I needed to.”

It was the second Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling final this season for Epping, who earned his third career Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title and second as a skip at the Meridian Canadian Open in December. The team of Epping, third Mat Camm, second Pat Janssen and lead Tim March earned $15,500 CAD for their runner-up finish.

The Humpty’s Champions Cup was the seventh and final event of the 2015-16 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season. The event was also the second of two new tournaments added to the schedule this year along with the Tour Challenge, which kicked off the season in September.

It was a double win for Winnipeg with Jennifer Jones capturing the inaugural Humpty’s Champions Cup women’s title defeating Ottawa’s Rachel Homan 7-5.

The Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling returns for the 2016-17 season starting with the Masters, Oct. 25-30, in Okotoks, Alta.