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2019 U SPORTS/Curling Canada Curling Championships Day 4: Ravens and Sea-Hawks men, Badgers and Voyageurs women to play for titles
FREDERICTON (U SPORTS) – The men’s final at the 2019 U SPORTS/Curling Canada Curling Championships will be one for the birds, literally.
The Carleton Ravens will face the Memorial Sea-Hawks.
Meanwhile, the women’s final will feature Ontario rivals Laurentian and Brock.
Greg Blyde, Memorial Sea-Hawks. (Photo, Rob Blanchard Photography)
The Ravens advanced to Tuesday’s gold medal game with an 8-6 win over the defending champion Alberta Golden Bears.
Ravens skip Cameron Goodkey scored twice in the sixth end and added three more in the eighth.
“It feels great,” said Goodkey, on the opportunity to play for a national title. “It’s what we came here to do and to get there, it’s a pretty good feeling. We came out knowing we had to make shots and we made them, and good things happened.”
Memorial’s Greg Blyde upset Dalhousie’s Matthew Manuel 10-3, in nine ends.
The Sea-Hawks scored three in the seventh end and two more in the ninth to beat a Tigers team that had finished the round-robin portion of the tournament with a 6-1 record.
“To be on the podium at a Canadian (national championship), it’s such a dream. I can’t even believe it,” said Blyde. “We played so solid, front to back. It was probably our best game of the whole season, to be honest.”
Brock’s Terri Weeks stole one in the 10th end to beat Queen’s.
The two teams engaged in a see-saw battle, never establishing a significant edge.
“The girls worked really hard to accomplish our goals,” said Weeks. “I’m so proud of how much work and resiliency they put into that game. It was really, really tough.”
The Gaels’ Mary Fay had a chance to win it in the 10th, but her final shot rolled too far, allowing the Badgers to steal the win.
“On any other day, Mary would’ve made that shot 10 out of 10 times,” said Weeks. “It was just really lucky that we got a miss out of her, because she was playing really well.”
Laurentian’s Kira Brunton took control early, scoring twice in the second end, stealing another in the third, and adding three more in the fifth, en route to an 8-2 win over Dal’s Kaitlyn Jones.
Like Manuel, Jones finished the round-robin portion of the tournament atop the standings with a 6-1 record.
“It really wasn’t an easy game,” said Brunton. “All the ends were really close and it was a grind. The scoreboard didn’t really reflect everything that was going on.”
In the final round-robin draw for the men, Dal had already locked up their semifinal berth before the day began.
Still, they were business-like in a 7-2 win over Blyde and the Sea-Hawks.
Alberta moved into the semis beating Western 7-5.
The host UNB Reds fell behind 5-0, but scored in five consecutive ends to beat Lethbridge 9-7.
And the Ravens scored three in the fourth end, doubling Brock 8-4.
“It’s always good to take a three. We had our chance and took advantage of it,” said Goodkey. “It was a good win, we played well. We made a lot of shots and the outcome was good.”
Terri Weeks, Brock Badgers. (Photo, Rob Blanchard Photography)
On the women’s side, Dal’s Jones came from behind to beat Queen’s 10-9 to lock up top spot in the women’s standings.
“I wasn’t playing good for the first half, so I knew that I had to pick it up for the second half,” said Jones. “It was nice to get that first three on the board, to know that we were still in the game and we had the momentum from that point on and we just kept going with it.”
One sheet over, Weeks and the Badgers eliminated the defending champion, Selena Sturmay, with a 6-4 win over Alberta.
In other action, Mount Allison scored a 10-9 win over Regina, and Laurentian beat UNB’s Justine Comeau 8-5.
The final day of the championships, which features the gold and bronze medal games, begins Tuesday, at 11:30 a.m. ET / 8:30 a.m. PT.
TEAM STANDINGS (Round-Robin)
Women 1 Dalhousie Tigers (6-1) 2 Queen’s Gaels (5-2) 3 Brock Badgers (5-2) 4 Laurentian Voyageurs (5-2) 5 Alberta Pandas (4-3) 6 Mount Allison Mounties (2-5) 7 UNB Reds (1-6) 8 Regina Cougars (0-7)
Men 1 Dalhousie Tigers (6-1) 2 Carleton Ravens (5-2) 3 Alberta Golden Bears (5-2) 4 Memorial Sea-Hawks (4-3) 5 UNB Reds (3-4) 6 Western Mustangs (3-4) 7 Brock Badgers (2-5) 8 Lethbridge Pronghorns (0-7)
SEMIFINALS
Women (1) Dalhousie 2, (4) Laurentian 8 (2) Queen’s 5, (3) Brock 6
Men (1) Dalhousie 3, (4) Memorial 10 (2) Carleton 8, (3) Alberta 6
FINALS
Women (3) Brock vs (4) Laurentian
Men (2) Carleton vs (4) Memorial