WCURL | Voyageurs Finish Round Robin Strong, Prep for Semis

The final day of round robin play in the U SPORTS Curling Championship saw the Laurentian Voyageurs women's team take on the McMaster Marauders and Victoria Vikes.

In the first game of the day Laurentian took on the team that ended up defeating them in the OUA finals only a few weeks ago, the McMaster Marauders. Looking for revenge, Laurentian began the game with the hammer and converted on it in the second end taking a 1-0 lead. It was clear to everyone in attendance this game was going to come down to the finest of margins, as neither side was ready to give the other any opportunities. The tightly contested game was proven as, by the fifth end break, the score was only 1-1.

From there, the game picked up as Laurentian really put the pedal to the metal, using the hammer in the sixth end to take a 2-1 lead, following it up in the seventh and eighth with back-to-back one-point steals to go out to a 4-1 lead. From there, it was all about maintaining the lead and seeing the game off to the end and, although McMaster scored in each the ninth and tenth end, the Voyageurs held on for the 4-3 victory.

In the second game of the day Laurentian took on the Victoria Vikes of British Columbia. The Voyageurs "home game", with Laurentian students being given free attendance to the game, brought an even higher sense of pressure for the Voyageurs to deliver, and did they ever. After three blank ends to start the game Laurentian went to work as, with the hammer in the fourth end, they put up a solid two points before following it up with a massive 4 point steal in the fifth end to take a commanding 6-0 advantage.

From there, just like the match against McMaster, it was about staying in control of the game and not slipping up. After the Vikes picked up back-to-back points in the sixth and seventh ends, you could tell the nerves were beginning to creep in. Laurentian, however, stayed resilient and confident, picking up a seventh point in the eighth end, which led to Victoria conceding the game with the final score at 7-2.

The Voyageurs will go for gold Sunday with the semi-final at 9:30am against the Dalhousie Tigers followed the medal games at 2:30pm.

Andrew Lemieux