Day Four Recap

GUELPH, Ont. – The Western Mustangs curling teams went a combined 3-1, defeating teams representing Trent, Lakehead, and Algoma on day four of the OUA Curling Championships being held at the Guelph Curling Club.
 
Western finished with identical 3-3 records on both the men's and women's side in round robin play with the women's team going 4-4 overall including their two tiebreaker games.
 
The Mustangs women's team was the busier of Western's two squads on day four playing three games on Sunday and they started things off bright and early as they took on the Trent Excalibur in Draw 11. Western scored two points in the first end and never looked back, scoring one in the third and another three in the fourth to defeat Trent 6-0 in four ends.
 
The win sent the Mustangs to a tiebreaker game, taking on the Lakehead Thunderwolves to determine which team would advance to the second tiebreaker against the Brock Badgers. Once again the purple and white opened the scoring with two points, scoring in the third end, before the Thunderwolves responded with a single point of their own in the fourth. That would turn out to be Lakehead's only point of the match as Western scored in each of the next three ends, picking up single points in both the fifth and sixth ends and another two in the seventh to earn a 6-1 win.
 
Western's push for the playoffs continued with their third matchup of the day that saw them take on the Brock Badgers in the second tiebreaker game. For the first time on Sunday the Mustangs opponents were the ones to score first as the Badgers scored a single point in the third end, then added four more over the next three ends to win 5-0 and move on to the quarterfinals where they were defeated by the Guelph Gryphons.
 
On the men's side Western faced the OUA's newest member in the Algoma Thunderbirds in Draw 12. The Mustangs started off strong against Algoma, scoring six points in the first four ends with two in the first, one in the third and three in the fourth. Algoma answered back with a single point in the fifth, however Western responded with three points in the sixth to earn a 9-1 victory in six ends.
 
The OUA Curling Championships will conclude on Monday with the semi-final and medal round games.

Day Three Recap

GUELPH, Ont. – On the third day of competition at the OUA Curling Championships the Western Mustangs men's team went 1-1, handing the Laurier Golden Hawks their first defeat of the event, while the women's team suffered a pair of losses including a heartbreaking extra ends defeat against Carleton.
 
Western now holds identical 2-3 records in both the men's and women's competition heading into the final day of round robin play.
 
On the men's side of the championship the Mustangs started things off by taking on the undefeated Laurier Golden Hawks in Draw 9. Similar to their two games yesterday the purple and white opened the scoring, recording two points in the third end to take an early lead. After trading points in the fourth and fifth ends the Golden Hawks took the lead in the sixth, scoring three in the end to pull ahead 4-3. Western responded quickly, scoring one in the seventh and then stealing one in the eighth and final end to claim a 5-4 win and hand Laurier their first loss of the championship.
 
In their second and final matchup of the day the Mustangs took on the Windsor Lancers who entered the contest coming off an 8-2 seven end loss to the Carleton Ravens earlier in the day. Western opened the scoring yet again, this time earning one point in the second end, eventually taking a 3-1 lead through five ends. The Lancers struck back in the sixth and seventh, scoring two in the former frame and one in the latter, before adding one more in the eighth to take a close 5-3 victory.
 
Western's women's side was the first Mustangs squad on the ice on Saturday, taking on the 2-1 Carleton Ravens who had suffered their first loss of the championship earlier in the day against Laurier. Fittingly enough for a contest between two of the OUA's top teams things went down to the wire, needing an extra end to decide a winner. The two teams traded a pair of two point ends early in the game with the Ravens striking first with two in the second before Western fired back with two of their own in the third. After exchanging single points in the fourth and fifth the Mustangs took put themselves in front with another single in the sixth to take a 4-3 lead, however the Ravens responded with two points in the seventh to take back the lead. Western answered back in the eighth, scoring one to tie the game at 5-5 sending it to extra ends. In the ninth Carleton picked up a single point to escape with the 6-5 win.
 
Western followed up with a game against the Brock Badgers. The Mustangs jumped ahead with a 3-2 lead after scoring three points in the second end, however the Badgers tied things up with one point in the third. Brock broke things open in the fourth with four points, and despite another two points from the Mustangs in the sixth the Badgers would go on to claim a 9-5 win.
 
Competition at the OUA Curling Championships continues on Sunday with the final two group play draws followed by the quarterfinals. Both the semi-final and medal round games are set for Monday.

Day Two Recap

GUELPH, Ont. – Both the men's and women's Western Mustangs curling teams picked up victories on day two of the OUA Curling Championships being held at the Guelph Curling Club on Friday.
 
After two days of competition the Mustangs sit at 1-2 and occupy fifth place in Pool B on the men's side and are 2-1 and in third place in Pool B on the women's.
 
Western's men's team started things off bright and early with the day's first draw taking on the Trent Excalibur. The Mustangs started out strong, opening the scoring with two points in the first end then following up with one point in the second and two more in the third to take a 5-0 lead after three ends en route to a 6-1 victory in seven ends.
 
In their second and final game of the day Western faced the Toronto Varsity Blues who were coming off of a 6-2 win over the Carleton Ravens earlier in the day.  Once again the Mustangs got off to a fast start, scoring two points in the first and one in the third to take an early 3-1 lead. The Varsity Blues fired back, picking up four points in the fourth and one in the fifth, before Western responded with three points of their own scoring two in the sixth end and one in the seventh. Unfortunately for the purple and white Toronto recorded the final points of the day, scoring two in the eighth end to narrowly edge out the Mustangs with a 7-6 victory.
 
The defending champion Western women's team had only one game on Friday, taking on a Windsor Lancers team that started off the day with a 9-8 win over Brock. Western opened up the scoring with two points in the first end and never looked back, scoring another three points in the second to take an early 5-0 lead. After trading points in the third and fourth ends Western put things away in the fifth, scoring four points to earn a 10-1 win in five ends.
 
Competition resumes on Saturday with both Mustangs teams scheduled for two games.

For full results click here.

Day One Recap

GUELPH, Ont. – After the first day of competition at the Guelph Curling Club the Western Mustangs women's curling team sits at 1-1 while the men's team is 0-1 at the OUA Men's and Women's Curling Championships.
 
Draw 1 saw the defending champion Western women's squad start things off with a matchup against the Lakehead Thunderwolves. The two teams traded single points throughout the first three ends with the Thunderwolves holding a slight 2-1 edge after three. The Mustangs then broke things open in the fourth, scoring three points before adding another two in the seventh to pick up a 6-3 win.
 
In their second game of the day the Mustangs took on the 2011 and 2012 champion Laurier Golden Hawks who were coming off a 5-2 win of their own in Draw 1. Western jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after the first end, however with things tied up 2-2 heading into the fifth the Golden Hawks scored three points in each of the next two ends, giving Laurier an 8-2 win in six ends.
 
On the men's side the Mustangs had only one match on the day, taking on the Carleton Ravens in the championship's first draw. Similar to Western's other two games things remained fairly even in the early going with the Mustangs taking a 2-1 lead after four ends. Unfortunately for the purple and white the Ravens would go on to provide the rest of the game's scoring, registering two points in the fifth and one in the sixth to emerge with a 4-2 victory.
 
Both Mustangs teams will return to the ice tomorrow for day two of the OUA Championships with the women's team facing Windsor and the men's side taking on both Trent and Toronto.

For full results click here.