WCURL | Voyageurs Grab U SPORTS Bronze

Championship Sunday at the U SPORTS Curling Championship began bright and early for the Laurentian women's curling team as they had their semi-finals at 9:30am against the Dalhousie Tigers.

Laurentian came into the playoff round as the number 1 seed on the women's side and would look to prove that ranking to be true by reaching the finals for a shot at the gold medal. The game began well enough as the Voyageurs picked up a 2-0 lead using the hammer in the first end. The next four ends of the game, however, Laurentian would have wanted to forget. Dalhousie got three in the second end following it up with a steal in the third and, after holding Laurentian to one point with the fourth end hammer, the Tigers picked up another two points in end five to take a commanding 6-3 lead into the fifth end break.

The sixth and seventh end went according to Laurentian's plan as they picked up 2 points with the hammer in the sixth and held Dalhousie to one in the seventh, cutting the lead to 7-5. It was in the eighth end, though, that the Tigers delivered the finishing blow as a steal of three points in the end put them up 10-5. Laurentian threw one last ditched roll of the dice in the ninth that only manufactured one point, which forced Laurentian to concede the 10-6 loss to the Tigers.

After the unfortunate events of earlier in the morning, the Voyageurs had to regroup and go again in the bronze medal game against the Memorial Sea-Hawks. The Voyageurs once again began the game well with a two point first end with the hammer and this time were able to hold their lead very well. Although Memorial picked up points in both the third and fourth end Laurentian went into the fifth end break with another 2-point end with the hammer, going up 4-2.

After Memorial tied it up in the sixth followed by a blanked seventh end, the game was tied with just three ends to go. Fortunately for Laurentian, they had the hammer in the eighth, retaking the lead before the Sea-Hawks once again tied it up in the ninth. Tied at 5-5 in the final end and with the hammer, Bella Lehtimaki Croisier was able to grab 4 foot on her final shot to take the 6-5 win and with it the bronze medal.

At the end of the event, a trio of Voyageurs were recognized for their fantastic play all week long.  Abby Deschene was recognized as a second team All-Canadian at the second position while Piper Lehtimaki Croisier and Bella Lehtimaki Croisier were recognized as first team All-Canadians at the third and skip positions, respectively.

Andrew Lemieux