John Epping Advances to Semifinals at Red Deer Curling Classic with Victory Over Braden Calvert

John Epping from Sudbury secured a spot in the semifinals of the Red Deer Curling Classic by defeating Winnipeg's Braden Calvert with a score of 5-2 on Monday morning. Epping's team, which includes Jake Horgan at third, Tanner Horgan, and Ian McMillan on the front end, is set to face Jordon McDonald from Winnipeg in the semifinals for a chance to compete in the championship match.

Calvert had the initial advantage, starting the game with hammer after qualifying through the B-event, but Epping quickly seized control with steals in the first and second ends. In the fourth end, Epping forced Calvert to settle for a single point, then extended his lead with two points in the fifth to make it 4-1. Epping continued to apply pressure, allowing Calvert only a single point in the sixth and adding another point in the seventh, ultimately running the Winnipeg team out of rocks in the eighth end.

In other quarterfinal matches, Jordon McDonald triumphed over Rylan Kleiter with a score of 6-4, Korey Dropkin defeated Cameron Bryce 5-1, and Matt Dunstone took down Daniel Casper 4-2. Epping's semifinal match against McDonald, along with Dunstone's game against Dropkin, is scheduled to start at 12:30 PM Mountain Time (MT).

This marks Epping's debut as a player in Red Deer, where he posted a 5-2 record during the 28-team triple knockout qualifying round. Epping's journey began with a 6-4 victory over Johnson Tao from Edmonton, followed by a 6-2 win against Riku Yanagisawa from Karuizawa, Japan. Epping faced a setback against Dropkin, losing 5-4, but responded with a convincing 8-2 win against Yusuke Morozumi, also from Karuizawa. He won 6-5 against Casper to advance to the B-Qualifier, where he lost to Dunstone 8-3, which sent him to the C-Qualifier. However, Epping bounced back with a 7-3 win over Thomas Scoffin from Whitehorse to secure a spot in the playoff round.