John Epping

John Allan Epping (born March 20, 1983) is a Canadian curler from Toronto, Ontario. where they lost in the semi-final.

At the 2016 Ontario Tankard, Epping and his rink again finished the round robin with an 8–2 record, but lost again in the final, this time to Glenn Howard.

Epping played in the 2017 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, but again had a disappointing tournament, finishing with just a 2–6 record. He also competed in the 2018 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Olympic Trials with Sherry Middaugh, who replaced his usual mixed doubles partner Lisa Weagle, who had qualified in the team event with Rachel Homan. Epping and Middaugh finished the round robin with a 3–5 record and did not make it to the round of 8. Later in the season Epping would win his first ever provincial championship, finally defeating Glenn Howard in the final of the 2018 Ontario Tankard.

Team Epping won the 2018 Masters, his fourth grand slam title, completing a career Grand Slam for Epping by winning all four "majors". Thanks to their success during the 2018–19 season, they qualified for the 2019 Tim Hortons Brier Wild Card game, despite losing in the final of the 2019 Ontario Tankard. In the Wild Card game, they lost to the Brendan Bottcher rink 8–4, missing out on playing in the Brier.

Ryan Fry joined the Epping team at third for the 2019–20 season, with Camm and Laing moving to second and lead and Savill leaving the team. They had a strong start to the year, winning both the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard and the 2019 AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic. They had a semifinal finish at the Masters, the first Grand Slam of the season. They missed the playoffs at the next two slams, the Tour Challenge and the National after going 1–3 at both. Team Epping posted a 6–2 record en route to winning the 2019 Canada Cup in Leduc, Alberta. This win qualified them to represent Team Canada along with five other Canadian teams at the 2020 Continental Cup where they lost 22.5–37.5 to the Europeans. They had a strong showing at the Canadian Open where they made it all the way to the final where they lost to the Brad Jacobs rink. At the 2020 Ontario Tankard, they completed their undefeated run throughout the week with an 8–3 win over Glenn Howard. Representing Ontario at the 2020 Tim Hortons Brier, they finished the championship pool with a 7–4 record and in a four-way tie for fourth place. They defeated Team Wild Card (Mike McEwen) in the first tiebreaker before losing to Northern Ontario (Brad Jacobs) in the second and being eliminated from contention. It would be the team's last event of the season as both the Players' Championship and the Champions Cup Grand Slam events were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Team Epping began the 2020–21 season with a win at the 2020 Stu Sells Toronto Tankard. The 2021 Ontario provincial playdowns were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario. As the 2020 provincial champions, Epping's team was chosen to represent Ontario at the 2021 Tim Hortons Brier in Calgary. At the Brier, Epping led his team to a 7–5 seventh-place finish.

The following season, Team Epping played in the 2021 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, where he missed the playoffs with a 3–5 record. The team re-bounded a month later by winning the ATB Banff Classic. The team played in the 2022 Ontario Tankard, but lost in the final to Team Howard, skipped by Scott Howard. At the 2023 Tankard, Epping's rink reached the semifinal, falling to eventual winners Team Mike McEwen.

During the 2023–24 curling season, Epping won the Stu Sells Living Waters Collingwood Classic on the men's tour, and the St. Thomas Mixed Doubles Classic and the Goldline Mixed Doubles Royal Montreal events on the mixed doubles tour with Weagle and Emily Deschenes respectively. At the 2024 Ontario Tankard, Team Epping made it to the semifinals, where they lost to an upstart Jayden King rink. At the end of the season, it was announced the team would be disbanding.

Epping would announce at the beginning of the season that he would be joining Ian McMillan and brothers Tanner and Jacob Horgan out of Sudbury in Northern Ontario. In their first year together, Epping would have a strong season, playing in the 2025 Masters grand slam event where they would go 2-2 in the round robin and lose to Korey Dropkin in a tiebreaker. Epping would also go undefeated at the 2025 Northern Ontario Men's Provincial Curling Championship to win his first Northern Ontario title and go to the 2025 Montana's Brier. At the Brier, the team would go 6-2 in the round robin, however fail to qualify for the playoffs due to their loss to Reid Carruthers to finish 4th in their group.

Mixed Doubles Epping has also found success in mixed doubles curling with partner Lisa Weagle. The pair lost in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship to Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing. At the 2024 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, she and Epping lost in the qualification playoff game to Nancy Martin and Steve Laycock. Weagle and Epping qualified for the 2025 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Olympic Trials, where they finished third, losing 8-6 in the semifinals to Rachel Homan and Brendan Bottcher.

Coaching Epping began coaching the Xenia Schwaller team from Switzerland during the 2025-26 curling season. As their coach, Team Schwaller won the 2026 Swiss Women's Championships, beating 4-time women's world champion Silvana Tirinzoni in the final, qualifying them to represent Switzerland at the 2026 World Women's Curling Championship. At their first world women's championship, they would impressively finish the round robin with an 11–1 record, finishing in first place and earning a bye to the semifinals. Team Schwaller would then go on to beat Sweden in the semifinals, and then Canada's Kerri Einarson 7–5 in the final to win their first World Women's title.

Personal life Epping's mother is an avid curler, and his grandfather founded the Ennismore Curling Club just outside Epping's hometown of Peterborough. Epping is openly gay, having come out to his parents in the Fall of 2011, before telling his then-team in 2012, and coming out publicly in 2017. He married Thomas Shipton in 2017. In 2020, Epping was featured in the Men of Curling calendar where he fundraised for the non-profit organization LGBT Youthline. He is currently employed as a sales director.

Grand Slam record

Event 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26 Masters DNP Q Q DNP DNP F Q Q SF Q QF Q C SF N/A Q Q DNP Q QF Tour Challenge N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Q Q QF Q Q N/A N/A Q T2 DNP SF National Q QF C QF Q DNP Q DNP Q SF QF SF Q Q N/A Q DNP DNP DNP QF Canadian Open DNP DNP Q SF Q Q Q QF Q C Q Q F F N/A N/A Q DNP DNP Q Players' DNP QF Q DNP Q C QF QF SF Q Q QF Q N/A Q Q DNP DNP QF DNP Champions Cup N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A F SF DNP QF N/A Q Q DNP N/A N/A N/A Elite 10 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Q QF Q QF SF N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

Teams Season Skip Third Second Lead 2003–04 John Epping Wes Johnson John Grant Bill Francis 2004–05 Nick Rizzo John Epping Scott Foster Rob Brockbank 2005–06 Nick Rizzo John Epping Scott Foster Rob Brockbank 2006–07 John Epping Nick Rizzo Scott Foster Ken McDermot 2007–08 Mike Harris John Epping Collin Mitchell Trevor Wall 2008–09 Wayne Middaugh Jon Mead John Epping Scott Bailey 2009–10 Wayne Middaugh Jon Mead John Epping Scott Bailey 2010–11 John Epping Scott Bailey Darryl Prebble Trevor Wall 2011–12 John Epping Scott Bailey Scott Howard David Mathers 2012–13 John Epping Scott Bailey Scott Howard David Mathers 2013–14 John Epping Scott Bailey Collin Mitchell David Mathers 2014–15 John Epping Travis Fanset Pat Janssen Tim March 2015–16 John Epping Mat Camm Pat Janssen Tim March 2016–17 John Epping Mat Camm Pat Janssen Tim March 2017–18 John Epping Mat Camm Pat Janssen Tim March 2018–19 John Epping Mat Camm Brent Laing Craig Savill 2019–20 John Epping Ryan Fry Mat Camm Brent Laing 2020–21 John Epping Ryan Fry Mat Camm Brent Laing 2021–22 John Epping Ryan Fry Mat Camm Brent Laing 2022–23 John Epping Mat Camm Pat Janssen Scott Chadwick 2023–24 John Epping Mat Camm Pat Janssen Jason Camm 2024–25 John Epping Jacob Horgan Tanner Horgan Ian McMillan 2025–26 John Epping Jacob Horgan Tanner Horgan Ian McMillan 2026–27 John Epping B. J. Neufeld Ryan Wiebe Ian McMillan