News Champions Cup

SHERWOOD PARK, Alta. — Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones and Ottawa’s Rachel Homan will meet in the first Humpty’s Champions Cup women’s final Sunday at the Sherwood Park Arena Sports Centre.

Jones came back to beat Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni 7-4 and Homan made another clutch final shot for a single to edge Winnipeg’s Kerri Einarson 4-3.

It’ll be the third consecutive Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling women’s final for Jones, who finished runner-up to Homan at the Meridian Canadian Open in January and Scotland’s Eve Muirhead at the Players’ Championship two weeks ago. The Meridian Canadian Open title victory was Homan’s record third consecutive Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title of the season.

Jones was up 3-0 until Tirinzoni took a single in the third, stole a point in the fourth and two in the fifth to take a one-point lead. The reigning Olympic gold medallist Jones, who clipped a guard in four and overthrew her last in five, bounced back drawing for a deuce in seven and finished off stealing a pair of points in seven when Tirinzoni’s shot went wide of the mark.

Meanwhile, Homan was held to a single in the second and stole one in three on a close measurement for a 2-0 lead. The teams alternated singles in four and six and Einarson scored a deuce in seven to tie it up heading home. 

Toronto’s John Epping was practically perfect punching his ticket to the men’s final earned a convincing 5-2 victory over Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L.

The teams held identical 3-1 round-robin records and a draw-to-the-button was required to determine who opened with the hammer. Epping edged Gushue to the pin by just four millimetres, which set the tone for the tight game.

Epping had to pull off an incredible angle raise slash to take out two counters and score a deuce in the second end.

“We were actually in trouble all end and I was able to have a chance for an angle slash for the deuce but you’ve got to make those big shots against Brad,” Epping said. “That’s what you have to do out here.”

Gushue was forced to take a single in the third when he attempted a runback to blank but rolled into the house. Epping added another pair of points in the fifth and stole one in the sixth to build a four-point cushion when Gushue looked to make a triple but his shooter got loose out of his hands and only took out two as the third counter was measured for shot rock and a steal. Gushue was only able to count one in seven and shook hands.

“If you get the hammer and you get a deuce early, which was big, you can get up on them early,” Epping said. “We were able to get a huge force and then come back with another deuce so that was a lot of momentum. Definitely getting hammer against Brad is big because he’s a big time front-runner if he can get up a couple so that was a great way to start the game.”

Team Gushue had an outstanding year on the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling circuit cashing in a whopping $203,500 from the series alone and taking home the National, Elite 10, and Players’ Championship titles plus the Rogers Grand Slam Cup as the season champions. Gushue also reached the final at two other events including the Meridian Canadian Open where Epping threw a perfect game to come out with the win. The skip received a stricter score in the rematch curling “only” 92 percent.

“Oh jeez that’s harsh, wow,” Epping said with a laugh. “We played really well today and that’s how you have to play to beat Brad. He’s one of the best players in the world and best teams in the world obviously with the season they’ve had. What a dream year they’ve had. You have to be tough to play them and come out firing and we did that tonight. I’ll leave this year with the dream flow (hair). That’s about it.”

Epping will play Reid Carruthers, who stole in the eighth end to swipe a 4-3 victory from Mike McEwen during an all-Winnipeg match. Carruthers trailed 3-1 with two ends to go and scored a deuce in the seventh to tie it heading home without the hammer. The pressure was on McEwen though facing two with his last in eight and he hit and rolled out to give up the single steal.

“It was an interesting game,” Team Carruthers lead Colin Hodgson said. “Definitely the ice dictated how we played. It was a little tougher that draw. It’s been fantastic all week so we just kind of ran into some different frost issues than we had in other games so we had to play a little bit more on one side of the sheet or pick our paths. Definitely changed our strategy. We wanted to keep it close. It would have been easy to give up a big end quick if you had to make a tough draw in a tough spot against a few.”

It’ll be the third Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling final of the season for Carruthers after finishing runner-up to Gushue at the National and Elite 10 and the team was thrilled Epping eliminated their nemesis in the semifinals.

“We’re obviously happy that we don’t have to see him again in a Slam final. He’s had our number in those games,” Hodgson said with a smile. “We’re just happy to be playing in that final again. John has won one already this year so hopefully it’s our turn. Our third crack at it. It would be nice to win the first one.”

The Humpty’s Champions Cup is the second of two new tournaments added to the schedule this year along with the Tour Challenge, which kicked off the season in September. Both Team Epping and Team Carruthers are pumped to be playing in the first men’s final.

“We’re super excited if you were the first team to be on the trophy of the Champions Cup,” Epping said. “It’s a great way to finish the year and anytime you have a chance to win two Slams in a year, I mean, it’s tough enough to win one. To win two would just be an incredible finish. Everybody has had to play well this year. Everybody has come in on a winning note and that’s what is great about this event.”

Hodgson said: “It would be great to be on any of these Slam trophies, but first one on any trophy that’s an honour to have. It’s fantastic and that it’s here in my home province, in front of my family and friends and it’s a great event and I’m really happy to be here especially since we’ve found our way into the final. We definitely got lucky to be in there, we know it so we’re going to try to make the best of it.”

The week has been extra special for Hodgson, who is originally from nearby Lacombe, Alta., and has had an entourage of supporters on hand at the event.

“It’s awesome to get to come to the rink and see my family,” he said. “I don’t get many chances to see them all season. There haven’t been many events in Alberta. They’ve got to really fly them out to a different event all over the country just to spend some time with them. It’s awesome that they’re here and my nieces and nephews are passionate, avid curling fans in the crowd and my nephew is a great hair stylist. I’ll definitely get him to do my hair before the final tomorrow.”

Watch the women’s final Sunday at 4:30 p.m. ET / 1:30 p.m. PT and the men’s final at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on Sportsnet ONE or Sportsnet NOW.