MCURL | Voyageurs Start Slow, Fall in Pool Play at OUA's

The men's curling team were in Guelph this past weekend for the OUA Championships, competing against teams from 15 other universities.  After a slow start, the men came up just short in their quest to make the quarterfinals.

In their opening game on Thursday against Ontario Tech, the men scored a pair in the seventh end to tie the game at five but the Ridgebacks tallied one in the final end to score the 6-5 win.  Later that night against Guelph, the men fell to the hosts 6-2 to finish day 1 at 0-2.

Things did not get much better on day 2 as the Voyageurs fell to the Laurier Golden Hawks 11-1 in five ends before falling to Carleton 8-1 in five ends.

Day 3 finally saw the men get into the win column as they battle a pair of fellow northern schools.  In the early draw, against Lakehead, the Voyageurs opened the scoring with a deuce in the third end before stealing a single in the fourth to take a 3-0 lead into the break.  After giving up a trio of singles to the Thunderwolves, the Voyageurs were able to seal the 4-3 victory by grabbing a single in the final end.

Later on day 3, against the Algoma Thunderbirds, the teams swapped singles before the Thunderbirds stole one in the third end.  The Voyageurs answered with a deuce in the fourth before stealing a single in the fifth and coming back with a steal of three in the sixth for the 7-2 win.

Despite their slow start, thanks to their two wins on day 3, Maxime Blais had a chance at the quarterfinals but would need a win in their final game against Ryerson.  Unfortunately, it was not meant to be as the Rams scored three in the third and grabbed another pair in the sixth en route to a 6-3 win, ending the Voyageurs' Championships.