Curling captures U SPORTS medals

The Alberta Pandas and Regina Cougars are U SPORTS champions after scoring victories in the gold medal games on the fifth and final day of the 2024 U SPORTS Curling Championships.

Serena Gray-Withers’ rink clinched their second consecutive women’s U SPORTS gold medal and the third consecutive title for the Pandas after defeating the Waterloo Warriors, 10-7, in the women’s final, completing an undefeated run in the tournament.

On the men’s side, Joshua Bryden’s rink brought home the first U SPORTS gold medal for the Regina Cougars since 2009 with an 8-5 victory over the Dalhousie Tigers.

In the semi-finals of the women’s bracket, Alberta faced off against Dalhousie. The Pandas opened the scoring with a double in the first end before stealing back-to-back doubles in the fifth and sixth, securing their place in the gold medal game with an 8-3 victory over the Dalhousie Tigers.

The Warriors established an early advantage against the host UNB REDS with a significant five-end score in the second end. Although UNB narrowed the margin to a two-score game with a double in the seventh end, the Warriors' triple in the eighth prompted early handshakes, as they emerged victorious with a 12-7 win.

On the men’s side, Regina upset the top-seeded Alberta Golden Bears to advance to the finals. In a tightly contested match that saw Alberta hold a narrow 5-4 lead at the halfway point, the Cougars rallied, scoring a double in the sixth end before stealing singles in the ninth and tenth ends to take a 7-5 victory.

In the other semi-final match, Dalhousie capitalized on early mistakes from the Laurier Golden Hawks, stealing the opening three ends to establish a 4-0 lead. Laurier countered with a single in the fourth end and a steal of two in the sixth, narrowing the gap to 5-4. However, a steal of three in the eighth end sealed the victory for the Tigers, propelling them to the gold medal game with an 8-3 win.

In the women’s gold medal game, Waterloo got off to a great start, stealing the opening two ends to take an early 2-0 lead. Gray-Withers’ draw for two helped the Pandas even the score in the third end, 2-2. Waterloo avoided a steal of three by the Pandas in the fourth after skip Celia Evans made a tremendous double takeout to score one and regain the lead, 3-2. However, a missed shot from Evans on her final stone in the fifth allowed Alberta to draw for three and take the lead, 5-3, heading into the fifth-end break. The Pandas then forced Waterloo into a draw for a single before scoring another triple in the seventh end, increasing their lead to 8-4.

The Warriors made things interesting down the final stretch, scoring a single in the eighth end before stealing two from the Pandas in the ninth, closing the gap to just a one-point Alberta lead heading into the tenth end. In the final frame, the Warriors tried to even the score, but with Alberta lying three and holding the hammer, Evans’ final stone came up short as the Pandas went on to win the game 10-7, securing back-to-back U SPORTS women’s titles for the second time in school history.

In the men’s final, it was a closely contested first half with the teams exchanging singles in a 1-1 tie through the first four ends. Dalhousie skip Owen Purcell made his draw for a single in the fifth, giving the Tigers a narrow 2-1 lead at the halfway point. In the sixth end, Bryden made an outstanding shot with his final stone to take out two Dalhousie rocks and score a double to jump ahead 3-2. The Tigers responded with a single to tie the game 3-3 in the seventh. The turning point came in the eighth end when the Cougars scored a five-ender to take a commanding 8-3 lead.

The teams shook hands after the ninth end with Regina winning their second U SPORTS Championship in the school’s history, with a final score of 8-5.

In the bronze medal games, the Dalhousie women used a steal of four in the fifth end to defeat the UNB REDS, 9-2, while Alberta scored a double in the tenth end to narrowly edge out Laurier, 9-7, in the men’s match.

All-Canadians and other major awards were also given Sunday night following the championship.  The recipients were:

ALL CANADIANS

Second Team Women

• LEAD: BRITNEY MALETTE (Laurentian)
• SECOND: MYA SMITH (Laurentian)
• THIRD: CATHERINE CLIFFORD (Alberta)
• SKIP: ALLYSON MACNUTT (Dalhousie)

First Team Women

• LEAD: CATE FITZGERALD (Dalhousie)
• SECOND: BRIANNA CULLEN (Alberta)
• THIRD: LINDSEY BURGESS (Dalhousie)
• SKIP: SERENA GRAY-WITHERS (Alberta)

Second Team Men

• LEAD: DANIEL DEL CONTE (Guelph)
• SECOND: WYATT SMALL (Wilfrid Laurier)
• THIRD: OWEN MCPHERSON (Dalhousie)
• SKIP: JOHNSON TAO (Alberta)

First Team Men

• LEAD: CAELAN MCPHERSON (Dalhousie)
• SECOND: BEN MORIN (Alberta)
• THIRD: DYLAN NIEPAGE (Guelph)
• SKIP: SAM MOOIBROEK (Wilfrid Laurier)

USPORTS National Coaching Award

• For coach of a Women’s team: ALEX HORVATH (Victoria)
• For coach of a Men’s team: JAMIE SCHNEIDER (Regina)

R.W PUGH FAIR PLAY AND SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD

• Men: DAVID MCCURDY (Wilfrid Laurier)
• Women: MEREDITH COLE (Victoria)