Masters Live Blog: Epping earns fourth major
TRURO, N.S. — John Epping captured the Canadian Beef Masters men’s title for his Toronto-based club with a 7-4 victory over Calgary’s Kevin Koe.
It is Epping’s fourth championship in the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling series and he has now captured all four of the original titles.
Here is how it all went down:
1st End: The Koo did what the Koo does. Epping lied three, but Koe blasted them all out of the house to avoid the steal and score a point. KOE 1, EPPING 0
2nd End: Did Koe take enough time for his last shot or what? Koe burned through a timeout and had almost five minutes fewer on his clock than Epping but couldn’t decide how to tackle the mess in the house and avoid a big score. After firing into the pile to eliminate two, Epping was left with an open tap for two. EPPING 2, KOE 1
3rd End: After a lengthy second end, the third breezed by with a blank on the board. EPPING 2, KOE 1
4th End: That didn’t go as planned. Epping got aggressive by drawing to the back of the eight-foot circle, under cover and the force was on. Or so it seemed. Koe’s last rock went through the rings and out the back to concede a steal. EPPING 3, KOE 1
5th End: From heavy to light. A crash on Koe’s first skip stone allowed Epping to hit and sit two counters and the force was strong again. Koe’s last came up well short of the house to hand over a pair and fall behind by four. EPPING 5, KOE 1
6th End: He’s back! Epping rolled deep on his last and Koe was able to capitalize drawing for a deuce. EPPING 5, KOE 3
7th End: It’s going down to the wire as you can never count out Koe. Epping fell into a bit of trouble again looking at three Koe counters and taking on a double. He missed the back one but the shooter stuck around for second shot, giving up a steal of one, which isn’t too bad considering he now has the hammer coming home. EPPING 5, KOE 4
8th End: A bad break for Koe as his last one picked something. Epping made one of his trademark angle raises to kick out the Koe counter to secure the championship. EPPING 7, KOE 4
NOTES: The Canadian Beef Masters is the second event and the first major of the 2018-19 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season. … Winners take home $30,000 of the $250,000 total purse plus berths to the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup in April. … Points are also on the line for the Pinty’s Cup, which is awarded to the overall season champions following the conclusion of the Players’ Championship.
