Alberta city to host 2025 U SPORTS, Canadian Colleges championships

A city that has hosted just about every major curling championship there is will had two more major events to its stellar resumé, it was announced today by Curling Canada.

The 2025 U SPORTS/Curling Canada Canadian University Championships and Canadian Colleges Athletic Association/Curling Canada Canadian College Championships will be staged Feb. 24-28 at the Lethbridge Curling Club.

“We couldn’t be happier to be heading back to Lethbridge, which has hosted so many successful national and international championships in the past,” said Nolan Thiessen, Chief Executive Officer of Curling Canada. “These are important championships for our young athletes with high-performance aspirations, and we’re pleased to continue our association with U SPORTS and the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association in putting on these events.”

It will be the sixth time the U SPORTS and CCAA championships are staged together in partnership with Curling Canada.

At the 2024 U SPORTS championships in Fredericton, N.B., the University of Alberta Pandas, skipped by Serena Gray-Withers, and University of Regina Cougars, skipped by Joshua Bryden, claimed national-championship gold medals.

“We’re excited that Curling Canada is bringing the 2025 University Championship back to the Prairies and to the City of Lethbridge,” said Lisette Johnson-Stapley, U SPORTS Chief Sport Officer. “Lethbridge is the heart of Curling Country with a long and distinguished history of hosting the best curling events in the world. We know the City will provide the backdrop for a fantastic experience for U SPORTS student-athletes.”

Claiming gold medals in the CCAA Championships were Edmonton’s Concordia Thunder, skipped by Gabrielle Wood, and, for the second straight year, the Humber Hawks of Toronto, skipped by Jacob Dobson.

“The CCAA looks forward to returning to Alberta for the 2025 CCAA Curling National Championships held in partnership with Curling Canada and in conjunction with the University Championships,” said Sandra Murray- MacDonell, CEO of the CCAA. “We are enthusiastic about the new timing for the Championships now taking place in February. The previous timing in the curling world had direct conflict with the Tournament of Hearts and Brier playdown processes causing some elite student-athletes choosing to not play in their post-secondary competition. Moreover, it spreads out the CCAA competitions calendar allowing greater resources and branding of the CCAA Curling Championships. The CCAA continues to work closely with Curling Canada and its Member Associations to grow the sport in the Collegiate system.”

The winning men’s and women’s teams at both the U SPORTS and CCAA championships will all qualify for the  2025 PointsBet Invitational Sept. 30-Oct. 5 in Calgary.

It will be Lethbridge’s first time hosting the national post-secondary championships, but hardly its first time hosting national championships.

Lethbridge is one of just six cities to have hosted the Montana’s Brier (2022), the Scotties Tournament of Hearts (1987, 2007), and both the World Men’s (2019) and World Women’s (2012) curling championships — Winnipeg, Brandon, Man., Saint John, N.B., Calgary, and Kamloops, B.C., are the others.

“Lethbridge is proud to have a storied history of hosting major curling events and to be known as a primary destination for top-notch post-secondary institutions,” said Blaine Hyggen, Mayor of Lethbridge. “Thanks to the Lethbridge Curling Club and Curling Canada for combining these two traits by bringing the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association/Curling Canada Championships and U SPORTS/Curling Canada University Championships with athletes from across the country to our city next year. We are already the only city to have hosted each and all these events: the Montana’s Brier (2022), World Men’s Curling Championship (2019), World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship (2017), World Senior Curling Championships (2017), World Women’s Curling Championship (2012) and Scotties Tournament of Hearts (2007). What a notable accomplishment! Good luck to all the future competitors and an early welcome to Lethbridge!”

“This is a wonderful opportunity to welcome Canada’s top university and college curling teams to our city and show off our club and its membership,” added  Kirk Mearns, Chair of the Lethbridge host committee. “Working alongside the University of Lethbridge and Lethbridge College, we will be putting together a plan to make these the best championships ever.”

In addition to the above-mentioned events, Lethbridge also hosted the 2000 (won by Alberta’s Kevin Koe) and 1976 (won by B.C.’s Tony Eberts) Canadian Mixed championships, and the 2003 Canadian Senior Men’s and Women’s championships (won by Alberta’s Tom Reed and Saskatchewan’s Nancy Kerr).

“University and college curling is a big part of the sporting fabric in Alberta, and we’re thrilled that Lethbridge will host these national events in 2025,” said Jill Richard, Executive Director of Curling Alberta. “We have every confidence that the Lethbridge Curling Club will do a superb job in hosting and welcoming teams, officials and fans.”