Curling action underway at the 2013 Winter Universiade

In the first day of action at the 2013 Winter Universiade in Trentino, Italy, Team Canada men’s and women’s curling teams faced off against some tough opponents. Getting a fast start in the first game of the women’s competition, Laura Crocker and her Wilfrid Laurier University team of third Sarah Wilkes, second Jennifer Gates, lead Cheryl Kreviazuk, and alternate Breanne Meakin with coach Gary Coderre, needed only six ends to power their way to an 8-1 victory over Italy’s Giada Mosener. “It was the first time we were able to throw on the ice here and the conditions were a little tricky, but we adapted quickly and used it to our advantage,” said Crocker. “The whole team played great and we’re looking forward to getting back out there.” The second game of the day was more challenging, and Team Canada came up short in a 9-2 loss to Sweden. On the men’s side, skip Brendan Bottcher of the University of Alberta, with teammates Michael Lizmore (third), Brad Thiessen (second), Karrick Martin (lead) Parker Konschuh (alternate) and coach Rob Krepps won a tight game against a strong team from Great Britain, scoring one in an extra end for the 5-4 win. “It was a very even game, on a tricky sheet of ice,” said Bottcher afterwards. “I’m really pleased with how we hung in there, figured out the conditions, and found a way to win. We’ve got a couple of tough games tomorrow, so hopefully we can build on today’s game and build some momentum for the rest of the week.” On Friday, Team Canada men will play China and Norway, while the women meet Switzerland. Follow Team Canada on the Canadian Interuniversity Sport websites (English and French) here: https://english.cis-sic.ca/universiade/winter/2013/index https://francais.cis-sic.ca/landing/index Access the 2013 Winter Universiade/Trentino 2013 website here: https://www.universiadetrentino.org/ About the Winter Universiade The Winter Universiade is a biennial international multi-sport event open to competitors who are at least 17 and less than 28 years of age as of January 1 in the year of the Games. Participants must be full-time students at a post-secondary institution (university, college, CEGEP) or have graduated from a post-secondary institution in the year preceding the event. The competition program of the Trentino Universiade includes alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey (women & men), nordic combined, ski jumping, snowboarding and short track speed skating. About Canadian Interuniversity Sport Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Every year, 11,000 student-athletes and 700 coaches from 55 universities and four regional associations vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca or follow us on: Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CIS_SIC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cissports YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/universitysport