U SPORTS Day 4 recap

Justine Comeau, University of New Brunswick. (Photo, Curling Canada/Czarina Castellano)

2020 U SPORTS/CURLING CANADA CHAMPIONSHIPS: Chase for curling glory concludes Sunday

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Man. (U SPORTS) – Playoff positions have been finalized and the chase for national title glory is down to four teams on each side going into Sunday at the U SPORTS/Curling Canada Championships. 

Schedule and Results

Livestream: CBCSports.ca 

The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks men’s rink ran the table in the round-robin, concluding play on Saturday with back-to-back extra end victories to finish in first-place with a 7-0 record.

“There are four really tough teams left and it is going to take everything we have out there on the ice to come home with what we want,” said Laurier skip Matthew Hall. “It is going to take a lot of resiliency and a lot of patience.”

Wilfrid Laurier is joined in the men’s final four by the Alberta Golden Bears, the Dalhousie Tigers and the Guelph Gryphons.

Ryan Grabarczyk, University of Regina. (Photo, Curling Canada/Czarina Castellano)

The Bears finished second at 6-1, the Tigers were next at 5-2, while the Gryphons grabbed the last spot. Guelph and the Regina Cougars both finished at 3-4, but the Gryphons head-to-head win over the Cougars gave them the edge in the tiebreaker.

The Hawks take on the Gryphons in one semifinal, while the other semi features the Bears and Tigers. 

On the women’s side, the Alberta Pandas are the top seed after snapping the UNB Reds’ six-game winning streak in the round-robin finale. The Pandas jumped out to a 6-2 advantage and doubled UNB 8-4.

“It is just about keeping a level head going into the playoffs and not really focusing on the end goal,” said Alberta skip Selena Sturmay. “We have got to take it one rock at a time and really grind out these last two games.”

Earlier, Alberta scored five in the third to power past Laurier 10-4, while the Reds rallied from an early 3-0 deficit to beat the McMaster Marauders 7-6.

The Pandas and Reds are joined in the playoffs by the Queen’s Gaels and McMaster. The Gaels were third at 5-2 while the Marauders were 4-3.

Alberta and McMaster meet in one semifinal, while UNB and Queen’s are featured in the other semi.

The playoffs start at 10:30 a.m. ET / 7:30 a.m. PT on  Sunday, with the winners advancing to the gold medal games later in the day at 3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT. The winners will represent Canada at the 2021 Winter World University Games in Lucerne, Switzerland. 

Men

Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (1) vs Guelph Gryphons (4)
Alberta Golden Bears (2) vs Dalhousie Tigers (3)

Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks 7-0
Alberta Golden Bears 6-1
Dalhousie Tigers 5-2
Guelph Gryphons 3-4
Regina Cougars 3-4
Brandon Bobcats 2-5
Brock Badgers 1-6
Memorial Sea-Hawks 1-6

Women

Alberta Pandas (1) vs McMaster Marauders (4)
UNB Reds (2) vs Queen’s Gaels (3)

Alberta Pandas 6-1
New Brunswick Reds 6-1
Queen’s Gaels 5-2
McMaster Marauders 4-3
Dalhousie Tigers 2-5
Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks 2-5
Regina Cougars 2-5
Brandon Bobcats 1-6

Curling Canada