Jones, Carruthers earn Champions Cup spots

Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones and Reid Carruthers can start booking their trips to the season finale Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event.

The series announced today the list of World Curling Tour and Curling Champions Tour events eligible for the Humpty’s Champions Cup, the brand-new Pinty’s GSOC tournament featuring all of the top winners from the year in one final showdown.

Team Jones and Team Carruthers both earned their spots by capturing the DEKALB Superspiel earlier this season in Morris, Man.

Joining Jones in the women’s division are EunJung Kim of South Korea (Canad Inns Women’s Classic), Krista McCarville of Thunder Bay, Ont. (Colonial Square Ladies Classic), Saskatoon’s Stefanie Lawton (Prestige Hotels & Resorts Curling Classic), Edmonton’s Kelsey Rocque (Red Deer Curling Classic), and Kerri Einarson of East St. Paul, Man. (Tour Challenge Tier 2).

In addition to Carruthers, Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock (Canad Inns Men’s Classic) and Calgary’s Pat Simmons (Ed Werenich Golden Wrench Classic) have qualified on the men’s side.

Eligible WCT and CCT events for the Humpty’s Champions Cup were determined based on their strength of field.

Calgary’s Kevin Koe, Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen, Brad Gushue of St. John’s, and Toronto’s John Epping all secured their places in the Humpty’s Champions Cup by winning Pinty’s GSOC events earlier this season. Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland claimed the first berth on the women’s side at the Tour Challenge with Ottawa’s Rachel Homan snapping up her spot at the Masters.

European Championship winners Niklas Edin of Sweden and Anna Sidorova of Russia as well as Pacific-Asia Championship winners Soo-Hyuk Kim of South Korea and Sasuki Fujisawa of Japan are also among the fields.

The Humpty’s Champions Cup runs April 26 to May 1 at the Sherwood Park Arena Sports Centre in Sherwood Park, Alta. Tickets are now available for this must-see event, click here for details to purchase yours today.

Humpty’s Champions Cup teams

Men’s Teams	Women’s Teams
Tour Challenge (Tier 1) Kevin Koe	Tour Challenge (Tier 1) Silvana Tirinzoni
Masters Mike McEwen	Masters/National/Canadian Open Rachel Homan
National Brad Gushue	Players’ Championship TBD
Canadian Open John Epping	European Championship Anna Sidorova
Elite 10 TBD	World Championship TBD
Players’ Championship TBD	World Junior Championship TBD
European Championship Niklas Edin	Pacific-Asia Championship Satsuki Fujisawa
World Championship TBD	Scotties Tournament of Hearts TBD
World Junior Championship TBD	U.S. National Championship TBD
Pacific-Asia Championship Soo-Hyuk Kim	Canad Inns Women’s Classic EunJung Kim
Tim Hortons Brier TBD	DEKALB Superspiel Jennifer Jones
U.S. National Championship TBD	Colonial Square Ladies Classic Krista McCarville
Canad Inn Men’s Classic Steve Laycock	Prestige Hotels & Resorts Curling Classic Stefanie Lawton
DEKALB Superspiel Reid Carruthers	Red Deer Curling Classic Kelsey Rocque
Ed Werenich Golden Wrench Classic Pat Simmons	Tour Challenge (Tier 2) Kerri Einarson

Note: If a team wins more than one qualifying event (e.g. a team captures the Elite 10 and the Players’ Championship titles) additional WCT/CCT winners based on strength of field will be invited to complete the 15-team field.