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As the month of September comes to the close, let’s take a look at which teams stood out during the first few weeks of the curling season.

Team McEwen remains undefeated

Two tournaments, two titles. Mike McEwen and his Winnipeg rink top the year-to-date order of merit men’s rankings by claiming both the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard and Point Optical Curling Classic titles. Most impressive, the team posted perfect records at both events and hold a 13-0 overall win-loss mark so far this season.

Don’t expect Team McEwen to slow down either. Their next tournament is the Canad Inns Men’s Classic, running Oct. 17-20 in Portage la Prairie, Man. Not only is McEwen the defending champion, his team has won three of the past four tournaments overall.

Okay, so it’s not the first time McEwen, B.J. Neufeld, Matt Wozniak and Denni Neufeld have been strong to start the season but they could have quite the crowded trophy case before we even get to the Masters tournament at the end of October.

Some praise for Team Epping

If it wasn’t for McEwen, the hottest team in men’s curling right now would be John Epping’s Toronto rink. Both tournaments McEwen won saw his rink face Epping in the final.

Epping took the long road at the Point Optical Curling Classic to score a playoff spot via the C Event of the triple knockout tournament playing seven games before the quarterfinals (McEwen’s team cruised through the A Event and played only three). Still, both teams played a trio of games on the final day Monday and McEwen edged out Epping for the victory, holding the hammer in the eighth end and drawing to the four-foot with his last shot to score the winning point to claim the title 5-4.

Besides the two finals appearances, Epping also reached the semifinals at the AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic, falling to eventual champion Brad Jacobs (Epping was able to turn the tables and toppled Jacobs 3-2 in the Point Optical Curling Classic semis).

Overall, that’s three playoff appearances through three events this season. The team is climbing up the World Curling Tour order of merit overall rankings and looks poised to continue their ascent.

Shout out to Shoot-Out champs

It’s worth giving a shout out to the HDF Insurance Shoot-Out champion: Team Chelsea Carey.

Carey’s all-new Alberta-based rink featuring Laura Crocker, Taylor McDonald and Jen Gates finished 4-1 in the round-robin and drew a tough playoff path to the championship but defeated Heather Nedohin, Kristie Moore and Val Sweeting en route to the title.

Something in common among those teams Carey beat? They’re the past three Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts champions. Yes, it’s early but consider it a warning shot to what could be an intense provincial tournament in the new year.

Golden Team Jacobs still shines

Olympic gold medallists Team Brad Jacobs are on the right track with a 12-1 record through two events.

The Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., rink cruised through the AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic to win the title for the second year in a row and were on a roll at the Point Optical Curling Classic until they fell to Team Epping in the semifinals.

The Jacobs rink has yet to meet Team McEwen so far this year but they could clash in a must-see match at the Canad Inns Men’s Classic (and if not there, then there’s always the Masters).

Sigfridsson reigns at powerhouse tournament

The Stockholm Ladies Curling Cup this past weekend featured a deep lineup of top teams including Olympic champion Jennifer Jones, Sochi silver medallist Margaretha Sigfridsson, bronze medallist Eve Muirhead, defending world champion Binia Feltscher and two-time reigning Canadian champion Rachel Homan. Add Sherry Middaugh, Anna Sidorova and Silvana Tirinzoni to the mix and you can see why this was one tough tournament.

The Final Four came down to Homan vs Tirinzoni and Jones vs Sigfridsson, semifinal matchups that we last saw at the Grand Slam of Curling’s Players’ Championship in April. This time around, Sigfridsson managed to knock off Jones and then defeat Homan to win the title.

This tournament served as a perfect tuneup for the Masters as all the aforementioned teams will receive invites to the first Grand Slam of Curling event of the season.