Day Three Recap

WATERLOO, Ont. (CIS) – It was an exciting finish to round robin play at the 2015 CIS - Curling Canada Championships on Friday as playoff positioning was finalized in Draw 12 at the K-W Curling Club.

The Western Mustangs men's team took to the ice for three games on Friday, defeating the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds 9-6, falling to the Toronto Varsity Blues 8-4, and losing an extra ends thriller to the host Laurier Golden Hawks 8-7 in 11 ends. Western finishes the championship in sixth place with a 2-5 record.

Western started off their day bright and early taking on UNB. The contest with a back and forth affair that saw the two teams trading poinst until things were tied 5-5 after six ends. The Mustangs then began to take control, scoring one in seventh and three in the eighth to take a 9-6 win.

The purple and white then returned to the ice to take on Toronto in another close contest, which came as no surprise given the close games the two teams played at the OUA Championship a few weeks ago. After eight ends the score was tied 4-4, however the Varsity Blues recorded four points in the ninth end to emerge with the 8-4 win.

The Mustangs finished their CIS championship schedule with what was arguably their most exciting game of the event as they took on the host and OUA Champion Golden Hawks. Western jumped out to an early lead, up 3-1 after three and 6-2 after five, however the Golden Hawks refused to back down, scoring one point in the seventh, and two in both the eighth and the ninth to take a 7-6 lead into the 10th end. Western tied things up with a single point in the tenth to send the game to extra ends, but Laurier recorded the final point of the day in the 11th to take the match 8-7.

Entering the last draw, fourth place in the standings was up for grabs in both the men's and women's draw. The Toronto Varsity Blues and the Winnipeg Wesmen squared off with the winner advancing to the final while the Guelph Gryphons faced a must-win game against Thompson Rivers on the women's side.

Toronto and Winnipeg went back and forth over the course of their game but the Varsity Blues entered the tenth end with a one-point advantage after skip Evan Lilly made a double takeout in the ninth end to give his team a 6-5 lead.

A well-played final end came down to the final rock. With his team lying one, Wesmen skip Kyle Doering found a port in front of the house and took out Toronto's rock on the back of the four foot to score two and take the game 7-6, securing fourth place in the standings.

In women's play, the Gryphons needed to hand the Wolfpack their first loss of the championship in order to avoid a tiebreak with the Brock Badgers and the UPEI Panthers.

With their season on the line, Guelph fell behind early but rallied behind skip Katelyn Wasylkiw. The Gryphons scored singles in the sixth, seventh and eighth ends to pull within one of Thompson Rivers as they trailed 6-5 heading into the ninth end.

However, perhaps Guelph's bigger enemy was the clock. With time winding down on them in the ninth end, the shrinking clock put pressure on the Gryphons and they missed two shots late, giving the Wolfpack and skip Corryn Brown three points and the victory.

The result forced a tiebreak and the final playoff spot would be determined by the pre-game draws to the button. Based on 12 of their best 14 draws during the pre-game practice sessions, UPEI was awarded the final playoff spot as the AUS silver medalists advanced to the medal round.

Earlier in the day, the top three places in men's and women's draw were finalized. The Alberta Golden Bears snagged first place in men's action as they opened the day with an 8-6 win over the host Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks in a battle of the unbeatens. Skip Thomas Scoffin and his squad followed that up with wins over the Dalhousie Tigers and the UNB Varsity Reds to finish the round robin with a perfect 7-0 record.

The Golden Hawks, despite the loss to Alberta, clinched second place in their next game as they knocked off the Wesmen 8-3. In their final game of the day, skip Aaron Squires and his team rallied from a 6-2 deficit to defeat the Western Mustangs 8-7 in an extra end.

The Saint Mary's Huskies grabbed third place as the AUS silver medalists went 2-1 on the final day, defeating Toronto and UNB before losing their final game to Dalhousie.

Aside from the win over Guelph, Thompson Rivers came out on top on the women's side by going a perfect 7-0 in the round robin. The Wolfpack escaped a pesky Brock Badgers team in their first draw of the day. Despite TRU going up 5-0 after five ends, Brock battled back to trail 7-4 going into the tenth end, where they would pick up three to force the extra. However, the comeback would fall short and Thompson Rivers would stay undefeated heading into their final draw against Guelph.

The Alberta Pandas would clinch second in the women's standings with two close games on day three. First, Kelsey Rocque and her rink narrowly edged out the UPEI Panthers in 11 ends. In their final game, Alberta would win a close match against the Saint Mary's Huskies 4-3 that had a total of four blank ends.

The host Golden Hawks rebounded from a tough day two, easily handling the Gryphons 9-3 in nine ends to secure their spot in the playoffs before defeating the Brock Badgers 8-2, also nine ends.

Semifinal matchups, beginning at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, will be the Alberta Golden Bears against the Winnipeg Wesmen, and Laurier Golden Hawks taking on the Saint Mary's Huskies on the men's side. The women's playoffs will be Thompson Rivers versus UPEI, and Laurier taking on Alberta.

The winners will move on to the finals while the losers will play for bronze with both games going at 2:30 p.m.

Live updates can be found at curling.ca. Fans can experience shot-by-shot analysis of all four semifinals and medal games throughout the day at curlinggeek.com.
 
 
DAY 3 SCORES
 
DRAW 9
Saint Mary's 10 - Toronto 3 (men)
Winnipeg 12 - Dalhousie 2 (men)
Alberta 8 - Wilfrid Laurier 6 (men)
Western 9 - UNB 6 (men)
 
DRAW 10
Wilfrid Laurier 8 - Winnipeg 3 (men)
Toronto 8 - Western 4 (men)
Alberta 5 - UPEI 4 (11 ends) (women)
Wilfrid Laurier 9 - Guelph 3 (women)
Saint Mary's 9 - StFX 3 (women)
Thompson Rivers 8 - Brock 7 (11 ends) (women)
 
DRAW 11
UPEI 8 - StFX 7 (women)
Alberta 12 - Dalhousie 2 (men)
Saint Mary's 7 - UNB 6 (men)
Wilfrid Laurier 8 - Brock 2 (women)
 
DRAW 12
Alberta 8 - UNB 4 (men)
Alberta 4 - Saint Mary's 3 (women)
Wilfrid Laurier 8 - Western 7 (11 ends) (men)
Winnipeg 7 - Toronto 6 (men)
Thompson Rivers 9 - Guelph 5 (women)
Dalhousie 6 - Saint Mary's 5 (men)
 
FINAL ROUND ROBIN STANDINGS
 
MEN
*Alberta 7-0
*Wilfrid Laurier 6-1
*Saint Mary's 4-3
*Winnipeg 4-3
Toronto 3-4
Western 2-5
UNB 1-6
Dalhousie 1-6
 
WOMEN
*Thompson Rivers 7-0
*Alberta 6-1
*Wilfrid Laurier 5-2
*UPEI 3-4
Brock 3-4
Guelph 3-4
Saint Mary's 1-6
StFX 0-7
 


Day Two Recap

WATERLOO, Ont. – Three teams remain undefeated following two days of competition at the 2015 CIS-Curling Canada Championships hosted at the K-W Granite Club.

The Western Mustangs men's team split their two games on Thursday, opening their day two schedule with an 8-3 win over Dalhousie before falling to Winnipeg by a 7-2 score in Draw 7. Western started out strong in their game against Dalhousie, taking a 3-0 lead after three ends and never looking back, with the game being highlighted by a three-point end from the Mustangs in the fifth. The Mustangs kept things close with Winnipeg with the score tied 1-1 after five ends, however the Wesmen recorded two points in the sixth, three in the eighth, and one in the ninth to take the 7-2 win.

In men's action, two teams have split away from the pack as the host Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks and the Alberta Golden Bears both own 4-0 records while the Thompson Rivers Wolfpack are all alone at the top of the women's standings with a 5-0 record.

The women were front and centre over the course of day two as each of the eight teams played three times. Once the dust settled following the final draw, Thompson Rivers found themselves alone at the top of the standings. Skip Corryn Brown and her rink are a perfect 5-0 after three wins on the second day of competition, including a 9-8 victory over the host Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks in an extra end.

The Canada West champions also defeated Saint Mary's in the first draw of the day 8-6 in an extra end and easily handled St. Francis Xavier, winning 12-4 in eight ends.

The Alberta Pandas rebounded on day two after finishing the first day 1-1 in the standings. Skip Kelsey Rocque and her rink handed the Guelph Gryphons a 12-3 defeat before knocking off the host Golden Hawks 7-5.  In their third and final draw of the day, the Canada West silver medallists walked away with a 12-4 victory over St. FX.

Laurier, Guelph and Brock all own 3-2 records heading into day three and find themselves in the hunt for playoff spots along with UPEI, who finished day two with a 2-3 record. Saint Mary's and St. FX round out the women's leaderboard sitting 0-5.

In men's action, the host Golden Hawks continued their winning ways as they picked up two more victories to run their record to 4-0.

In their opener against Saint Mary's, skip Aaron Squires and the Hawks jumped out to an early 6-1 lead. However, the Huskies rallied behind skip Scott Babin and grabbed an 8-7 advantage going into the tenth end. On his last shot though, Squires made the open hit to score two and Laurier came away with a 9-8 victory.

Their second game against Toronto once again saw Laurier jump out to an early as it was 10-2 at the fifth end break. The Blues and skip Evan Lilly would pull back but the deficit proved to be too much as the Hawks won their fourth in a row 11-6.
The Golden Bears matched the host team as they also won twice on Thursday to keep pace and also sit at 4-0 after two days.

Skipped by Thomas Scoffin, the Golden Bears also picked up wins over the Varsity Blues and the Huskies. Alberta opened the day by holding off previously unbeaten Toronto 6-4. In the late draw against the Huskies, a pair of steals in the fifth and sixth ends were the difference as the Golden Bears won 8-5.

Five teams below Laurier and Alberta are still in the hunt for a playoff spot as Toronto, Saint Mary's and the Winnipeg Wesmen all own 2-2 records while the UNB Varsity Reds and the Western Mustangs sit at 1-3.

The men will begin the third and final day of round robin play of the championships at 8 a.m. Friday morning as every team will play three times. The women will play twice over the course of the final three draws to determine who advances to the playoffs.

Live updates can be found at www.curling.ca. Fans can experience shot-by-shot analysis of select games throughout the day at www.curlinggeek.com.
 
DAY 2 SCORES

DRAW 5 - WOMEN
Brock 7 - StFX 6 (11 ends)
Alberta 12 - Guelph 3
Wilfrid Laurier 8 - UPEI 6
Thompson Rivers 8 - Saint Mary's 6 (11 ends)
 
DRAW 6 - MEN
Western 8 - Dalhousie 3
Wilfrid Laurier 9 - Saint Mary's 8
Alberta 6 - Toronto 4
Winnipeg 9 - UNB 5

DRAW 7
Alberta 7 - Wilfrid Laurier 5 (women)
Guelph 8 - UPEI 6 (women)
Thompson Rivers 12 - StFX 4 (women)
Brock 7 - Saint Mary's 2 (women)
Winnipeg 7 - Western 2 (men)
Wilfrid Laurier 11 - Toronto 6 (men)

DRAW 8
Brock 7 - Guelph 6 (11 ends) (women)
Thompson Rivers 9 - Wilfrid Laurier 8 (11 ends) (women)
UPEI 6 - Saint Mary's 5 (women)
Alberta 12 - StFX 4 (women)
UNB 7 - Dalhousie 4 (men)
Alberta 8 - Saint Mary's 5 (men)

DAY 2 STANDINGS

MEN (Top 4 teams advance to medal round)
Alberta 4-0
Wilfrid Laurier 4-0
Saint Mary's 2-2
Toronto 2-2
Winnipeg 2-2
UNB 1-3
Western 1-3
Dalhousie 0-4

WOMEN (Top 4 teams advance to medal round)
Thompson Rivers 5-0
Alberta 4-1
Brock 3-2
Guelph 3-2
Wilfrid Laurier 3-2
UPEI 2-3
StFX 0-5
Saint Mary's 0-5

Day One Recap

WATERLOO, Ont. – The 2015 CIS-Curling Canada University Curling Championships got underway Wednesday at the K-W Granite Club in Waterloo, Ont. All 16 teams on both the men's and women's side were on the ice for their first two draws of the tournament.

The Western Mustangs men's team fell to Alberta and Saint Mary's in their two matches of the day by scores of 9-4 and 6-3 respectively. Western started out strong with Alberta opening the scoring in the first end and taking a 4-3 lead after five, however the Golden Bears fired back with two points in each of the sixth, seventh, and eighth ends to earn the win. In their second game of the day the Mustangs trailed 4-2 after six ends before the team's traded single points through the seventh to ninth ends with the Huskies emerging with a 9-3 victory. 

In men's action, the story of the day was the four unbeaten teams sitting atop the standings after two draws. The host Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks, along with the Alberta Golden Bears, the Saint Mary's Huskies and the Toronto Varsity Blues all own 2-0 records through day one.

The Golden Hawks, the OUA Champions skipped by Aaron Squires, got off to a quick start thanks to wins over the Dalhousie Tigers (12-4) and the UNB Varsity Reds (10-3). Multiple score steals were the difference makers for Squires and his squad as Laurier took control of their win over Dalhousie with a steal of three in the seventh end and a steal of two in the fourth against UNB.

Alberta and skip Thomas Scoffin followed suit with victories over the Western Mustangs (9-4) and the Winnipeg Wesmen (8-4) where, once again, late steals were the keys to victory. Scoffin and his rink earned consecutive steals of two in the seventh and eighth ends to induce handshakes against Western, while a steal of one in the ninth end, and another three in the tenth end, gave Alberta the win over their Western Canada counterparts from Winnipeg.

The Huskies, silver medalists in the AUS and skipped by Scott Babin, also picked up their two wins against Western (6-3) and Winnipeg (8-6). Saint Mary's opened up the day by rallying from a 6-4 deficit after seven ends to earn the win over the Wesmen before defeating the Mustangs to move to 2-0.

Finally, the Varsity Blues, the OUA bronze medalists led by Evan Lilly, earned identical 6-4 wins over UNB and Dalhousie. Against the Varsity Reds, the Blues scored two in the ninth end before running UNB out of rocks in the tenth to open their day with a win. They followed that up by jumping out to an early 6-1 lead before cruising over the final four ends to out with the victory.

On the women's side, it is the Guelph Gryphons, Thompson Rivers Wolfpack and the host Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks who sit atop the standings after day one. Guelph's Katelyn Wasylkiw and her rink, who captured the OUA bronze medal, defeated Saint Mary's 7-4 before easily handling Ashley Francis and her St. Francis Xavier squad 9-2 to close out the day.

Thompson Rivers preserved their spot at the top of the standings by pulling out a victory on a steal in the final end against Kelsey Rocque and her Alberta Pandas rink. Rocque, the two-time World and Canadian Junior champion, flashed on her last rock to give up a steal of one, giving the 2014 Canada West champions a 6-5 win. Their other victory of the day came against the UPEI Panthers (6-4).

Similar to Thompson Rivers, Laurier's second win of the day was reassured by a steal in the final end against Saint Mary's. The AUS champions tried to go for three and the win on the final shot, but skip Sara Spafford was wide on her last, giving the OUA champions, skipped by Carly Howard, the steal and the victory.

The women will begin day two of the championships at 8 a.m. Thursday morning before the men take the ice at 12 p.m.

Live updates can be found at www.curling.ca. Fans can experience shot-by-shot analysis of games throughout the day at www.curlinggeek.com.