CURL | Voyageurs' Women Bring Home the Banner

CURL | Voyageurs' Women Bring Home the Banner

The Laurentian Women's Curling team captured the school's first OUA Women's Curling banner today in Oshawa, with a 6-4 victory over the Ryerson Rams.

The team opened the final by putting two on the board in the first end. After blanking the second, the Rams subsequently tied the contest at two in the third. The turning point for the Vee's came in the fourth and fifth ends. With the hammer back in their possession, Laurentian grabbed three points in the fourth to recapture the lead. In the following end, the team forced the Rams to lose their hammer after taking only one point in the frame. After trading one point ends in the sixth and seventh, and the Rams grabbing a single in eight, the Voyageurs were champions for the first time. 
"It means a lot for sure," said skip Krysta Burns (Sudbury, ON). "We even heard that it was our (school's) first OUA banner since 2003 so it is obviously a big deal for us and a big deal for Laurentian."
The banner is a first for the Women's Curling program and overall the Voyageurs first banner since the 2002-2003 season when the Women's Nordic Ski team captured the OUA crown. 

The Vee's finished third in their pool with a record of 5-2 and thereafter took down the Queen's Gaels 7-6 in the quarter-final and the Toronto Varsity Blues 8-1 in the semi-final. To add to the historic bonspiel, Voyageurs second, Sara Guy, was named a 2017 OUA First Team All-Star.

Joining Burns on the championship roster were Megan Smith (Sudbury, ON), Sara Guy (Wahnapitae, ON) and Laura Masters (Sault Ste. Marie, ON).
 
All finalists will now represent the OUA at the upcoming U SPORTS championship being hosted March 19-22 by Lakehead University in Thunder Bay. Knowing that going into the final, Burns said she didn't have too many nerves.
 
"We felt pretty in control for the whole game knowing that both teams would be going to CIS (U SPORTS)," she said. "That kind of took the pressure off a little bit so we were able to keep calm and throw well."
 
"(When we won) we were just kind of calm and living it out. We're just going to take this momentum with us to CIS (U SPORTS)."

On the Men's side, the Voyageurs finished last in their pool with a record of 1-6. The team's lone victory came in their final game, a 5-4 win over the Guelph Gryphons.


Stay up-to-date with the Voyageurs by following @LUVoyageurs on Twitter.

Cedric Junor
Sports Writer