Alberta Women and Memorial Men continue to lead the pack at University Championships

THUNDER BAY, Ont. (U SPORTS) – The U SPORTS/Curling Canada Curling Championships continued Monday at the Fort William Curling Club with both Memorial Men’s and Alberta Women’s remaining undefeated. The fourth draw started with Laurentian’s Krysta Burns, her team intact from a bronze-medal finish at the 2017 Canadian Juniors, with a convincing 11-2 win over the host Lakehead’s Hailey Beaudry, aided by scores of three points in the first, fifth and seventh ends. University of Alberta’s Kristen Streifel continued her strong play during the round robin. The World Junior bronze medallist upped her record to 4-0 in Draw 4 by a virtue of an 8-3 win over St. Francis Xavier’s Emma Logan. Streifel scored two points in the fifth end, followed by steals in the next two ends. In other women’s games, 2016 World Junior Women’s Champion Kristin Clarke and her Dalhousie Tigers kept their playoff hopes alive by edging Regina’s Hayley Jameson 7-4. Clarke broke open a close game with a steal of two points in the 9th end. Finally, UNB’s Justine Comeau won her first game over Ryerson’s Maggie Macintosh by a score of 9-5 aided by three points in the seventh end for the win. On the men’s side, Memorial’s Adam Boland remains the only undefeated team. Boland scored four points in the first end coasting 10-2 over Lakehead’s Dave Henderson. Thomas Scoffin’s Alberta Golden Bears kept their hopes alive, stunning Regina’s Sam Wills 5-3 by stealing the final end when Wills’s draw to the four-foot slid to the back eight-foot area. UPEI’s Chris Gallant is back in the race for one of the top four playoff spots with his second consecutive win, this time over Wilfrid Laurier’s Matt Hall, 9-6. Dalhousie’s Robert Mayhew missed a chance to grab second place on his own, losing 6-3 to previously winless Queen’s, skipped by Wes Forget. The curling action continued later on in the evening with Draw 5. Macintosh of Ryerson women’s dominated against Laurentian with a quick four points in the first. The Rams carried on to complete an impressive 12-4 win that put their record at 2-3. Alberta’s Streifel was outstanding once again, walking away with an 11-5 victory over Regina’s Jameson. The Pandas now move to 5-0 and confirm their ticket to the semifinals. StFX also had a successful night with a 10-3 win over Dalhousie. The X-Women took 3 points in both the 7th and 8th end that sealed their win and put them at 3-2. Lakehead and UNB traded single points for the first four ends until UNB captured a 3-point lead in the 5th. The Varsity reds ran the Thunderwolves out of rocks and took an 8-5 win. On the men’s side, Memorial faced Regina and was tied in the eighth at 6-6 until the Seahawks took singles in the ninth and 10th ends, defeating the Cougars 8-6. Memorial also confirmed their spot in the championship semifinal with their undefeated 5-0 record. Host Lakehead fell to Alberta in a convincing 7-4 victory by Scoffin. This will put the Golden Bears back in the top four with a 3-2 record after struggling the first two days of the tournament. Lakehead now falls to the bottom of the pack at 1-4. UPEI’s Gallant won a great 10-7 decision over Dalhousie’s Mayhew, moving the Panthers closer to the top of the standings. UPEI were up 3-0 after two ends and stole three more in the fourth to gave them a 6-2 lead. The Tigers managed to put themselves back in the game, and tied it back up 6-6 in the sixth. UPEI pulled it together scoring a big break in the 7th that gave them the lead again. The Tigers now move to 2-3 and the Panthers bump to 3-2. “It was a good game. We got a few breaks. Dal is a really good team and we capitalized on their mistakes,” said UPEI’s Chris Gallant after a three-game winning streak, which moves him from 0-2 to 3-2. “We knew we were better than how we played in the first two games so it was just a matter of getting in the groove and now we just need to carry the momentum into the next games. We faced some really good teams so far and now we just have to keep it going and play the same way tomorrow.” The last two draws of the Round Robin continue Tuesday, March 21 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00p.m. EST at the Fort William Curling Club in Thunder Bay. The semifinals and medal games will be played Wednesday, March 22. DAY 3 SCORES Draw 4– Men UPEI 9, Laurier 6 Alberta 5, Regina 3 Memorial 10, Lakehead 2 Queen’s 6, Dalhousie 3 Draw 4 – Women Laurentian 11, Lakehead 2 Alberta 8, StFX 3 Dalhousie 7, Regina 4 UNB 9, Ryerson 5 Draw 5 – Men Alberta 7, Lakehead 4 UPEI 10, Dalhousie 7 Queen’s 10, Laurier 3 Memorial 8, Regina 6 Draw 5 – Women Alberta 11, Regina 5 UNB 8, Lakehead 5 Ryerson 12, Laurentian 4 Dalhousie 10, StFX 3 DAY 3 STANDINGS Men Memorial 5-0 UPEI 3-2 Alberta 3-2 Queen’s 2-3 Laurier 2-3 Regina 2-3 Dalhousie 2-3 Lakehead 1-4 Women Alberta 5-0 Laurentian 3-2 StFX 3-2 UNB 2-3 Lakehead 2-3 Dalhousie 2-3 Ryerson 2-3 Regina 1-4 SCHEDULE (All times ET) Saturday, March 18 8 p.m. Draw 1 Sunday, March 19 2 p.m. Draw 2 7 p.m. Draw 3 Monday, March 20 2 p.m. Draw 4 7 p.m. Draw 5 Tuesday, March 21 2 p.m. Draw 6 7 p.m. Draw 7 Wednesday, March 22 9 a.m. Semifinals 2 p.m. Bronze and Gold medal games 7 p.m. Championship banquet About U SPORTS U SPORTS is the national brand for University Sports in Canada. Every year, over 12,000 student-athletes and 500 coaches from 56 universities vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. U SPORTS also provides higher performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit usports.ca or follow us on: Twitter: @USPORTSca Facebook: @USPORTSCanada YouTube: @USPORTSca Instagram: @USPORTSca Snapchat: @USPORTSca Championship website (complete results): https://en.usports.ca/championships/curling/index