With another Olympic quadrennial coming to a close, some notable teams in the world of curling have already begun parting ways.
Sudbury’s Team John Epping, who lost the Northern Ontario final to Team Sandy MacEwan last month and won’t compete in this year’s Montana’s Brier, announced on Tuesday that Jacob and Tanner Horgan will be leaving the team to “explore new opportunities.”
The 42-year-old Epping saw a resurgence of his career after joining forcing with the Horgan brothers as well as lead Ian McMillan ahead of the 2024-25 season.
Team Epping won numerous events on Tour, qualified for both the 2025 Montana’s Brier and the 2025 Canadian Curling Trials and reached No. 5 in the world rankings during their short two-year run together.
They didn’t have their best week at November’s Canadian Curling Trials, finishing with a 3-4 record.
According to the news release, Epping and McMillan will “explore options” going forward.
🚨 Team Epping Update 🚨 pic.twitter.com/MEBoLNxMlS
— Team Epping (@teamepping) February 3, 2026
As is the case at the end of every Olympic cycle, more changes are expected to come over the next few months.
Team Matt Dunstone will lose power sweeping second EJ Harnden following the 2025-26 campaign while Brad Gushue is also hanging them up, leaving teammates Mark Nichols, Brendan Bottcher and Geoff Walker without a skip.
On the women’s side, Kamloops’ Team Corryn Brown have already announced that they are going their separate ways.
An announcement from Team Brown ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/99gEbBmWJB
— Team Brown (@TeamBrownBC) January 18, 2026
It’s a safe bet that the Canadian curling scene will look a lot different when the 2026-27 season rolls around next September.
