With two days in the books, a pair of teams have booked playoff spots at the 2025 Henderson Metal Fall Classic.
Thanks to wins on Friday evening, Matt Dunstone and John Epping are assured of quarterfinal spots on Saturday evening.
The Dunstone rink, which includes E.J. and Ryan Harnden of the Sault, beat American Daniel Casper on Thursday evening 7-6 to pick up one of two A Bracket spots in the triple knockout tournament.
After a blank in the opening end blank, the two teams traded deuces throughout before the Dunstone rink scored a single in the eighth end to pick up the win.
For Epping’s northern Ontario-based rink, the team grabbed the other A bracket qualifier spot thanks to an 8-3 win over Italian Joel Retornaz in six ends.
With the game tied at three through four ends, Epping scored three in the fifth end to take a 5-3 lead before stealing a pair in the sixth end to cap off the win.
With the loss, Retornaz will face Switzerland’s Marco Hoesli in a B bracket qualifier game on Saturday morning with the winner grabbing a quarterfinal spot.
Casper will play Japan’s Shinya Abe in another B bracket qualifier with a quarterfinal spot on the line.
The other B bracket qualifier game will see Reid Carruthers take on American Chase Sinnett.
All three B bracket qualifier games are set for Saturday morning at 9 a.m.