News Players' Championship

TORONTO — Hometown favourite John Epping moved up to a 3-0 record with an impressive 7-1 victory in six ends over Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock in Players’ Championship Draw 7 action Thursday at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.

The fans roared for the team of Epping, third Mat Camm, second Patrick Janssen and lead Tim March, who curl out of the Donalda Club in Toronto. Epping, a two-time Grand Slam champion, said it’s awesome having the crowd on their side.

“It’s nice having all of our friends and family here,” Epping said. “I know as we go deeper in the event we’ll have a lot of people coming to watch on Friday, Saturday and hopefully Sunday.” 

Epping took a point in the second, stole two in the third and counted three in the fifth. Laycock, who was held to a single in the fourth, shook hands after his final shot in six didn’t make it and he gave up a steal.

“Always when you can get to three wins is a big thing because sometimes it can at least guarantee you some sort of a tiebreaker or playoff spot,” Epping said. “You’re always looking at that magic number three. It was just nice to come out, our only game of the day, and we played really well today and we were sharp.”

Elsewhere, Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen is also up 3-0 following a 7-5 win against Calgary’s Kevin Koe (2-1). McEwen scored a deuce in the first and Koe knotted it up with one in the second and a steal in the third when McEwen attempted a triple takeout but couldn’t make them all disappear. The teams alternated singles through four and five and deuces in six and seven. McEwen held the hammer coming home and took two more points. 

Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher scored four in the seventh to earn a 7-2 victory over Sven Michel of Switzerland and Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., took two in the sixth and stole a point in the seventh during a 6-4 win over reigning world champion Niklas Edin of Sweden. Both Bottcher and Gushue improved to 2-1 records while Michel and Edin fell to 0-3.

Elsewhere, Scotland’s Eve Muirhead (2-1) cruised to an 8-3 victory over Edmonton’s Heather Nedohin (1-2).