Varsity Blues men, Golden Hawks women looking to repeat as OUA Curling champions

The Toronto Varsity Blues men's curling team ended a 30-year OUA title drought last season, and look to repeat as OUA champions for the first time in school history this weekend at the OUA Curling Championships at the Guelph Curling Club.

Led by skip Evan Lilly, the Blues finished in second place at the highly competitive Brock Invitational on Jan. 17-18. Toronto went 4-0 in the round robin at the event before falling to the Guelph Gryphons in the finals by a 6-2 score.

The Guelph Gryphons men's team hasn't won an OUA curling championship since 1980, but if their performance at the Brock Invitational was any indicator, they could very well end their drought at home this weekend. The Gryphons were perfect 4-0 in round robin play, and went on to win the bonspiel.

The 2008 CIS champion Laurier Golden Hawks men are a serious title threat once again. Skipped by Aaron Squires, the Golden Hawks won the Trent Invitational in November, going undefeated at the bonspiel and outscoring their opponents 48-20 in six games.

Squires, along with teammates Fraser Reid and Spencer Nuttall, also participated in the Ontario Tankard earlier this season.

Laurier is co-hosting the CIS National Championships with the Waterloo Warriors March 18-21.

Falling to the Golden Hawks in the Trent Invitational finals was the Brock Badgers. In their six games, Brock went 4-2, with the only two losses coming to Laurier. Badgers skip Eric Bradley is hoping to turn the tables this time around.

The UOIT Ridgebacks finished third at both the Brock and Trent invitationals, beating the Carleton Ravens both times in the third-place games.

Both the Ridgebacks and Ravens went 3-1 in round-robin play at the Brock Invitational and are expected to offer tough competition at the OUA Championships.

The Waterloo Warriors are relying on rookie skip Matt Allen to return the team to the top of the conference after back-to-back titles in 2012 and 2013. The Warriors started last year's OUA Championships 5-0 before losing their final round-robin game and getting ousted in the quarter-final draw against Toronto in a close 6-5 game.

Rounding out the men's competition are the Lakehead Thunderwolves, Windsor Lancers, Trent Excalibur, Laurentian Voyageurs, McMaster Marauders, Western Mustangs, Queen's Gaels, and Algoma Thunderbirds.

On the women's side, the Carleton Ravens are looking for their first ever women's OUA curling title after taking home silver in 2014. The team, however, did go on to win the CIS national title, earning a spot in the 2015 Winter Universiade in the process.

The skip from last year's Ravens squad, Jamie Sinclair, is gone from the Ravens who were led to a silver medal at the Universiade by Breanne Meakin from Manitoba. At the OUA Championships, though, it will be Lauren Horton skipping for Carleton.

The Laurier Golden Hawks are the defending OUA women's champions, and once again bring a strong team into the final bonspiel. Skip Carly Howard, daughter of former Canadian and World champion Glenn Howard, led her team to a third-place finish at the Brock Invitational; and with one OUA title and one national championship under her belt, knows what it takes to win a conference title.  Lead Chelsea Brandwood, also knows a thing or two about winning, as she has a Canadian Junior silver medal as skip of Team Ontario on her resume.

The Brock Badgers women's team won the Trent Invitational and have their sights set on bringing home a championship banner for the first time since 2006. Skip Erin McAuley and her Badgers team finished with a 5-1 record at the Trent bonspiel.

Taking home gold at the Brock Invitational was a good sign for the Guelph Gryphons women's team heading into the OUA championships. The Gryphons went 3-1 in round-robin play before defeating the Toronto Varsity Blues in the gold medal game and are hoping for a repeat result in front of their hometown fans.

The Toronto Varsity Blues are looking to improve on their second-place finish at the Brock Invitational and capture their OUA first women's curling championship since 2001. Rookie skip Deborah Hawkshaw will be throwing the final stones for Toronto.

Both the Western Mustangs and Waterloo Warriors have won OUA titles in the past five seasons, with Western winning in 2013 and Waterloo in 2010.

Western narrowly missed out on a bronze medal at the Brock Invitational, losing the third-place game against Laurier after going 3-1 in the round-robin.

The men's and women's competitions each feature 15 teams divided up into two pools. At the conclusion of round-robin play, the top three teams from each pool advance to the playoffs, with the top seeds in each pool receiving an automatic bye to the semifinals.

The top men's and women's teams from the OUA Championships advance to the CIS National Championships co-hosted by the Laurier Golden Hawks and Waterloo Warriors on March 18-21.