By Adam Laskaris
John Epping has had many high-pressure moments over the course of his curling career, including four Grand Slam wins, a Brier bronze medal, and five appearances at the Canadian Olympic Trials.
But it was a tattoo of a grasshopper that might’ve given him the most anxiety he’s had yet in the sport.
In March, the Ontario-born Epping coached Switzerland’s young rink on a run to the World Women's Curling Championship, where they went undefeated in their final 13 games after an opening-draw loss to claim the gold medal.
Making good on a promise he made to his team while they were down 0-1 in the best-of-three national championships to the Olympic silver medalists skipped by Silvana Tirinzoni, Epping paid homage to the victory with his first-ever tattoo. And with the squad playing out of Zurich’s Grasshopper Club, there was no better memento than the insect itself.
“I think I was more nervous there than in any curling game I've ever played,” Epping said with a laugh in an interview with GSOC. “Pretty neat to commemorate the win with that.”
Unbeknownst to Epping when he made the promise, all four players on the team — skip Xenia Schwaller, third Selina Gafner, second Fabienne Rieder and lead Selina Rychiger — ended up getting grasshopper tattoos as well, forever sealing their bond.
With all four of their players 23 years or younger, Epping admitted that claiming the world title was a bit ahead of schedule for their projected growth.
“I think that's just a testament to the work ethic and buying into the process the plan that we had for them as a group,” he said.
A different kind of pain
While Epping’s coaching career reached one of the pinnacles in the sport with a world title, one surprising loss was a tough pill to swallow for the rink he was skipping himself this past year.
Seen as a contender for his first Canadian men's title, Epping fell to Sandy MacEwan in the Northern Ontario provincial final this past January.
MacEwan’s rink ended the season ranked 58th in Canada and outside of the world top 100 rankings, mostly playing only in local events with limited travel. There’s no formal list of provincial curling upsets, but with Epping’s own rink being within the top 10 in the world and finishing the season third in Canada on the CTRS rankings, it’s safe to say the Brier qualifier didn’t quite go as most would’ve predicted.
“We were just steady all year, and yeah, to not make the Brier … that hurt,” Epping admitted.
The loss ended up being that iteration of Team Epping’s final game together, with brothers Jake and Tanner Horgan eventually announcing their departure from the team. The duo teamed up with Brendan Bottcher, forming a new rink out of Alberta.
“I've been around for so long and through this so many times that it's the nature of the beast in curling, and I know, especially after a quad, this is what you tend to see,” Epping said of his former teammates departing.
Finding a new team
Epping’s season ended about two months earlier than planned, while also not getting a chance to play in the season-ending Crown Royal Players’ Championship due to a conflict with the Northern Ontario playdowns.
Despite the tough defeat, Epping still felt positive about his abilities and recent performances.
“It left me kind of thinking about what the future holds for me,” Epping said. “These last two seasons have been a bit of a resurgence for myself personally, and I really felt good about the game and where I'm at.”
Epping and lead Ian McMillan decided they wanted to still curl together, but wondered what their next move was. Eventually, they linked up with longtime curling veteran B.J. Neufeld, while also adding Ryan Wiebe from the since-disbanded 2025 Ontario champion rink skipped by Sam Mooibroek.
“B.J. has always been somebody that I've always wanted to play with, and it just seemed like a natural fit,” Epping said. “Ryan's name came up in our conversations, and I had heard from Ryan separately too … that he was also looking for a team, a new move."
The rink will be based out of Manitoba, with all three of his teammates hailing from the province. But with Epping and Wiebe both living in Toronto, he’s looking for the chance to be a bit of a mentor to the 25-year-old.
“He’s really young, but he's just got such a great maturity about him. Really smart guy, knows the game, and you can just see that he wants to fit into this team and be the best he can,” Epping said.
Aiming for the top
Epping isn’t trying to make too many predictions about how his new rink will come together.
“As you build a team and put a new team together, it's a bit of a marathon, not a sprint. And now is the perfect time to start the process of the marathon. We've got some time to work and to put the time in and to grow as a team,” Epping added. “I'm looking forward to building something here, and I hope we can build something pretty special.”
But while there are a few bonspiels to play before then, a strong performance at the Manitoba Brier playdowns next January is already something earmarked on Epping’s calendar.
“Getting back to the Brier, getting to the Brier, and having a chance to win the Brier, that's the big goal right away,” Epping said. “For me, it's going week in, week out, playing well, and being competitive all the time, that to me is what I really get enjoyment out of.”
At age 43, Epping doesn’t shy away from the fact that there are no certainties left in his curling career.
“I know when I get in the car, if I kind of dread going to the curling rink, I know at that point that it's time for me to be like, ‘OK, maybe, maybe, maybe I should hang them up,'" he said. “But I still have a great drive to look forward to going [to the rink] and working at the game and throwing rooks, and trying to find ways to improve, be better, and be near the top.”
