Golden Hawks start 2016 CIS / Curling Canada University Championships off strong

DAY 1: DRAW 1

The 2016 CIS / Curling Canada University Championships opening draw at the Kelowna Curling Club had the host UBC Okanagan Heat men taking on the Sir Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks. While the Heat earned an automatic bid as the host team, and have few competitive games under their proverbial belt, the Golden Hawks are considered to be one of the favourites in the tournament.

Laurier, led by skip Aaron Squires, took a sizeable lead in their contest against the host school, going up 6-2 after the fourth end. Despite their relative lack of competitive CIS experience, though, the UBC Okanagan men, led by skip Justin Nillson, did not go down without a fight. Nillson's squad took two in the seventh end to pull within three, at 8-5.

The game concluded after eight ends, with Laurier winning by a final score of 11-5. After the loss, Nillson said of his team's performance, "[it's our] first game of nationals, the boys are really psyched, and pumped, and I think we communicated really well actually, and that's what we gotta build on the next few games." The Heat skip continued, "we stayed as a unit, and that's one of the big goals of the weekend, so that was a good showing."

Other opening round games in the men's first draw had the Saint Mary's Huskies falling 9-1 after eight ends against the University of Victoria Vikes.

The Brock Badgers scored two in the tenth end to beat the Waterloo Warriors 10-8 in all OUA match-up.

In the final game to finish in the first draw, the University of Alberta Golden Bears beat the Dalhousie Tigers 8-4, after scoring three in the final end following a missed attempt at a raise takeout with the final rock of the game by Dalhousie skip Matthew Manuel.

In first round play in the women's round robin, the Thompson Rivers WolfPack, a sort of de facto host of the women's draw, as UBC Okanagan has no women's curling team, started their tournament at the Kelowna Curling Club against the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds.

The WolfPack led by 2013 Canadian Junior Women's champion Corynn Brown, face the UNB Varsity Reds in a tight game, with TRU up 3-2 through six ends. Behind skipper Samantha Crook, the Reds pulled within one again after the eighth end, scoring one to make it 4-3 in favour of the Corynn Brown-led 'Pack.

TRU jumped out to a big 6-3 lead, scoring two in the ninth end, and that would be the final score after the WolfPack put it away in the tenth end.

In a significant upset on sheet three of the first draw, the Dalhousie Tigers, led by Kristin Clarke, who this year won the World Junior Women's championship as the third for Nova Scotia's Mary Fay, defeated the University of Alberta Pandas, 10-6, a game conceded after nine ends. The Pandas are led by Kelsey Rocque, who was a two time World Junior Women's champion at skip in 2014 and 2015. While the Tigers are a relatively new team, the Pandas come into the national tournament as a projected top finish.

Another upset came on sheet eight, with the Brandon Bobcats, who haven't competed with top teams for the last few years, defeating the Sir Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks, a school consistently among the best in the country, 5-4 after an eleventh end.

In the final game, the Guelph Gryphons beat the Brock Badgers 5-3, with the game ending when Guelph skip Jestin Murphy ran Samantha Crook's squad out of stones in the final end.

Round robin play continues through to Tuesday followed by semi finals and gold and bronze medal games on Wednesday, March 23. Four teams from each 8 team round robin will advance to those respective medal rounds. The winners of the CIS / Curling Canada University championships will represent Canada at the 2017 World University Games in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Full scores, standings and team rosters  can be found here:
Women: http://www.curling.ca/scoreboard/#!/competitions/2061
Men: http://www.curling.ca/scoreboard/#!/competitions/2062

DAY 1: DRAW 2

For the women's tournament at the CIS / Curling Canada University Championships, the second draw on Sunday put UNB against Laurier, Alberta against Guelph, Brock against Dalhousie, and Brandon against TRU.

The Brock Badgers (Terri Weeks) and Dalhousie Tigers (Kristin Clarke) left the first and second ends blank, before the Tigers scored first in the third. With never more than a single point scored in any end, the Tigers held a 4-1 lead after the seventh, before Brock took one in both the eighth and ninth to pull within one heading into the final end. The only game to go a full ten ends, it ended with a perfect hit and stay from Dalhousie skip Kristin Clarke to give her team the winning point on the final stone of the match. After the win, Clarke said that having a shot to win the game isn't something that feels the least bit nerve-racking. "It's just really exciting, knowing that I have a shot that I've been able to make all year," said the Tigers skip, continuing, "[I] just gotta take it like I've taken every other shot I throw, no different than any other shot."

Clarke recently won the 2016 World Juniors as vice for Nova Scotia's Mary Fay, and asked about what it means to be in a position to win another championship so quickly, the Halifax native said, "It feels absolutely unreal, it's pretty cool. I mean, it's been a great season, but just gotta come here, focus, and take it one shot at a time." With her Dalhousie team now standing as one of only two teams without a loss in the tournament so far (the other being the TRU WolfPack), that mentality seems to be working.

The University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds (Samantha Crook) scored first against the Laurier Golden Hawks (Chelsea Brandwood), with two in the first end. Building on three scored in the third end, though, Laurier took a 6-3 lead into the sixth end. Laurier scored three more in the seventh, to go up 9-5, before taking the game by a final score of 11-6 after nine ends. Laurier's record improves to 1-1 with the win, while the Varsity Reds fall to 0-2 on the tournament.

The University of Alberta Pandas (Kelsey Rocque) scored three in their second end against the Guelph Gryphons (Jestyn Murphy), and kept rolling to take a 5-1 lead into the sixth end. Alberta went on to win the game 7-2 after eight ends, putting both teams' records at 1-1 for the tournament so far.

The Thompson Rivers WolfPack (Corynn Brown) kept up the strong performance from their first game, and rolled to a 5-2 lead against a recently revived Brandon Bobcats (Janelle Vachon) team after five ends. After scoring three more in the eighth end, the WolfPack took the game 9-3, improving to 2-0 for the national championship tournament so far.

The second draw of the opening day on the men's side at the CIS / Curling Canada University Championships saw Saint Mary's take on Wilfrid Laurier, Alberta against Brock, Waterloo against Dalhousie, and UBC Okanagan against fellow British Columbians, the University of Victoria.

The UBC Okanagan Heat (Justin Nillson) had a strong start in their second game, jumping out to a 5-2 lead over the Victoria Vikes (Corey Chester) after the fourth end. The Vikes scored three in the fifth end to tie it up at 5, then two more in the seventh to take a 7-5 lead. The last of the men's evening draw to finish, and the only game going more than eight ends, the Vikes won it 9-5 running UBC out of stones in the 10th end. Victoria ends up 2-0 after the first day of the tournament, while UBC Okanagan sits at 0-2.

Wilfred Laurier (Aaron Squires) had an outstanding fourth end, scoring five to earn a 5-2 lead over Saint Mary's (Adam Cocks). Scoring three more in the fifth end, the Golden Hawks took a commanding 8-2 lead, and didn't let up. Laurier beat Saint Mary's 10-3 after eight ends, putting the Golden Hawks at 2-0 for the tournament so far, while the Huskies fall to 0-2.

The Dalhousie Tigers (Matthew Manuel) also took a huge lead in their game, going up 8-1 over the Waterloo Warriors (John Willsey) after the fifth end. Waterloo scored one in each of the sixth and seventh ends, but Dalhousie took the game 9-3 after eight ends, putting the Tigers at 1-1 for the tournament, and making the Warriors 0-2.

The Alberta Golden Bears (Thomas Scoffin) jumped out to a 4-1 lead over the Brock Badgers (Eric Bradey) after the third end, and went on to win 10-3 after eight ends, putting Alberta at 2-0 in the tournament, and the Badgers at 1-1.

Round robin play continues through to Tuesday followed by semi finals and gold and bronze medal games on Wednesday, March 23. Four teams from each 8 team round robin will advance to those respective medal rounds. The winners of the CIS / Curling Canada University championships will represent Canada at the 2017 World University Games in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Full scores, standings and team rosters  can be found here:
Women: http://www.curling.ca/scoreboard/#!/competitions/2061
Men: http://www.curling.ca/scoreboard/#!/competitions/2062