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Carruthers advances to men’s Canada Cup final; will face Team Gushue

Dec 3, 2016 | 8:15 AM

BRANDON, Man. — Reid Carruthers is heading to the men’s final at the 2016 Canada Cup.

After giving away a 5-1 lead in Saturday night’s semifinal, Carruthers and his Winnipeg rink managed to edge Toronto’s John Epping 6-5 in a tense extra end.

The Carruthers crew will take on Brad Gushue’s team from St. John’s, N.L., skipped by Mark Nichols, in the men’s final Sunday night. Both teams finished the seven-team round robin with 4-2 records.

“We can learn a lot from that game. We felt the full nerves we’re going to feel in the final, so we have to take this as a learning experience and go have a good rest,” said Carruthers.

After losing their first three games, Epping’s team responded with four consecutive wins, including a 7-5 tiebreaker victory over Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock earlier Saturday.

“We fought hard and to have him throw his last one, I don’t think we can ask for more at that point,” said Epping. “That’s the way we are. We’re gritty, we don’t give up. It was a great shot by Reid on his last one.

“Midweek was looking pretty bad for us. It’s been a long week, a lot of close games for us, so it’s tiring, it’s exhausting.”

Ottawa’s Rachel Homan defeated Winnipeg’s Kerri Einarson 9-4 on Saturday afternoon in women’s semifinal play.

Homan scored three points in the ninth end for the victory and will face Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones in Sunday’s women’s final.

“The team played unreal,” Homan said. “I struggled a little bit early, but the team played so strong. So did Einarson, it was a struggle the whole way. We’re really excited to get back to the final and have a strong game against Jones.”

The Canada Cup winners earn berths in next year’s Olympic Trials. Since Jones and Homan have already qualified for that event, the women’s berth will go to the leading team on the 2016-17 Canadian Team Ranking System as of May 1.

Calgary’s Kevin Koe is the only men’s skip who has qualified for the Trials. He did not reach the Canada Cup playoffs.

The Canada Cup winners will also qualify to play on Team North America at the Continental Cup next month in Las Vegas.

The Canadian Press