Apr 9, 2015
McEwen, Epping post wins at Players' Championship
Mike McEwen and John Epping posted victories Thursday afternoon to remain unbeaten at The Players' Championship at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
The Canadian Press
TORONTO - Mike McEwen downed Sweden's Niklas Edin 5-1 Thursday night to remain unbeaten at The Players' Championship at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
McEwen, from Winnipeg, sits atop the men's standings at 4-0 at the season's final Grand Slam of Curling stop.
John Epping, from Toronto, downed Saskatoon's Steve Laycock 7-1 in afternoon action and is 3-0 after nine draws to sit second.
In other evening play, former Olympic champion Brad Gushue of St. John's, Nfld., beat Edmonton's Brendan Bottcher 5-4 to improve to 3-1 — good for a third-place tie with Calgary's Kevin Koe, who beat Switzerland's Sven Michel 7-3. Bottcher is sixth at 2-2.
Also, Winnipeg's Reid Carruthers dowed Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., 5-4. Jacobs is alone in fifth spot at 2-1 while Carruthers is in a four-way tie for seventh at 1-2 with Laycock, Glenn Howard of Penetanguishene, Ont., and Winnipeg's Jeff Stoughton, who edged Howard 5-4.
Edin and Michel are in last place with 0-4 records.
On the women's side, Switzerland's Alina Paetz sits alone in first place through eight draws with a 3-0 record after toppling Russia's Anna Sidorova 6-5.
Ottawa's Rachel Homan fell to Edmonton's Val Sweeting 9-2, Sherry Middaugh of Coldwater, Ont. defeated Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni 7-6, Winnipeg's Jennifer Jones beat Binia Feltscher of Switzerland 6-5 and Winnipeg's Kristy McDonald slipped past Sweden's Margaretha Sigfridsson 5-4.
Homan, Sweeting and Middaugh are tied for second at 3-1 while Scotland's Eve Muirhead is fifth at 2-1. McDonald's 2-2 record is good for sixth spot as Switzerland's Binia Feltscher, Edmonton's Heather Nedohin, Sidorova and Jones are tied for seventh at 1-2.
Tirinzoni is 1-3 while Sigfridsson remains winless at 0-4.
There are 12 teams entered in both the women's and men's draws. Round-robin play is scheduled to continue Friday.
The playoffs will begin Saturday and the finals are scheduled for Sunday.