WCUR | Voyageurs Finish Round Robin Undefeated at OUA Championships
After getting off to the perfect start on day 1 of the OUA Championships the Laurentian Voyageurs women's curling team had another s two matches on Saturday as they cap off the preliminary round of the championships before looking to find success on championship Sunday and a shot to play at the U SPORTS national tournament later this year.
Their first match of the day was against the Laurier Golden Hawks. Right from the start those in attendance could tell that it would be a tightly contested matchup. The first end finished with Laurier picking up a one point steal before Laurentian battled back with points in both the second and third. From then on each end from four to seven saw the team with hammer come away with a singular point giving Laurentian an extremely slim 4-3 lead going into the 8th and final end with the Golden Hawks having the hammer.
The 8th end was nerve wracking to say the least as each rock was vital to both sides coming away with the win. In the end it was Laurentian's skip Bella Croisier who managed to pull off an outstanding final shot to put the Voyageurs with shot rock and in a great position going into the final shot of the match. Laurier was put in a tough spot and needed a miraculous shot of their own if they wanted to steal the win away from the hometown Voyageurs. Fortunately for Laurentian the Golden Hawks skip missed her intended target leaving Laurentian with a one point steal in the 8th end and an extremely important 5-3 win improving to 3-0 on the tournament and virtually locking up their spot in the quarter finals on Sunday.
Their second match of the day was up against the Algoma Thunderbirds who went into their final game of the round robin with a 1-2 record and needing a win to have a chance to qualify for the quarter finals themselves. It was the Voyageurs though who got off to a hot start as after picking up a point in the first end with the hammer they came up with a huge three point steal in the second end before following it up with a one point steal in the third taking a massive open 5-0 lead after just three ends.
After giving up two points in the fourth Laurentian went back at it again in the fifth end, as this time with the hammer they put up another three point end taking a convincing 8-2 lead with them into the home stretch of the match. The sixth end raised some questions though as all of a sudden Algoma found some life. They pulled off a three point end of their own cutting the lead down to 8-5 and managing to put some pressure on a Laurentian team that were looking quite comfortable for the majority of the game.
In the end the pressure was short lived as Laurentian bounced back taking another point in the seventh end putting themselves up 9-5. With that scoreline the game was called, giving the Vees a perfect 4-0 record going into the medal round on Sunday and qualifying first in the overall standings.
Their quarter final matchup is scheduled for 9am Sunday morning and another meeting with the Queen's Gaels who they have already beaten in the round robin play Friday taking a slim 7-6 over their opponents earlier in the championships.
- Andrew Lemieux