Three teams undefeated going into final day of round robin

(Photo: Adam Gagnon)

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.

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

Source: CIS