Niagara, Brock show curling mettle with medals
Niagara College and Brock University have been swept up in championship curling, too.
The Scotties Tournament of Hearts national women’s curling championships were just getting underway in St. Catharines when Niagara settled for a silver medal at the Ontario women’s college championship and the Brock men won bronze at their respective provincial finals.
A 6-4 loss on the last rock to the Humber Hawks in the final at the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) championships in Sault Ste. Marie kept the Knights off the top step of the podium, though not out of contention for a national title.
The strong second-place finish earned a rink skipped by E.L. Crossley graduate and secondteam provincial all-star Emma Caldwell a berth at the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) championships March 2124 in Camrose, Alta.
Eric Bradey made the second all-star team after he skipped the Brock men to a record of 7-3, including 5-2 in pool play, at the Ontario University Athletics championships at Oshawa Golf and Country Club.
The Badgers edged the Toronto Varsity Blues for the gold medal.
A 6-5 loss to Ryerson in the quarter-finals ended a quest for a provincial medal for the Brock women who finished with an overall record of 7-1.
Women’s skip Terri Weeks and lead Joanna Francolini were selected to the first all-star team.
At the OCAA championships, Niagara went 4-2 in the round robin — Mohawk, 6-3; Fleming, 8-5; Fanshawe, 5-2; Seneca, 5-3; St. Clair, 5-7; Humber, 1-7 — before edging Fleming 7-5 in the semifinals.
A tight battle in the rematch with Fleming was tied 3-3 after five ends. Turning point for Niagara was when the Knights stole a pair in the sixth to go up by two.
Fleming took two points in the seventh, but in the process gave Niagara the hammer for the eighth, and final, end.
With a berth in the gold medal on the line, the Knights made no mistakes on their way to a 7-5 win highlighted by Courtney Smith’s last shot runback double to score one for the win.
“The ladies had a great run to the gold medal game only to lose on a last throw rock from Humber,” said Niagara coach Jordan Thin, who was selected as the OCAA’s top coach for the second year in a row.
Aside from Burlington’s Lorelle Weavers, a medal-winning golfer during the curling off-season, the Niagara rink is made up of high school graduates from the region. Caldwell went to E.L. Crossley, Smith to Denis Morris while Renee Boyce attended Sir Winston Churchill.
The Knights men’s team, also coached by Thin, finished 2-6.
“They played each team tough and went to the ends in all of their losses,” the coach said. “A couple of shots here and there and the record is completely different.”
“Great experience for a young team that will serve them well next year.”