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CCAA/U SPORTS Champions!
Augustana Vikings and Humber Hawks win 2023 CCAA/Curling Canada College Curling Championships
National Championship Matches
The Augustana Vikings women curlers and Humber Hawks men’s team are the 2023 CCAA Curling Canada Champions. Augustana and Humber will raise the first CCAA Curling banners since the championship last took place in March of 2020.
The women’s final between Augustana and the Niagara Knights unfolded like a chess match with both teams calculating every move. Niagara opened the scoring with a pair in the first followed by two blank ends. Augustana then scored singles for three straight ends followed by another two from the Knights. Augustana tied things up in the ninth leading to the decisive tenth end. The Vikings then managed a steal to secure the 5-4 win and the national championship. This is the fourth curling medal for the Augustana Vikings program, but its first CCAA Championship. Niagara’s silver medals were not only the first for their women’s team but the first time on the CCAA Curling podium for the varsity program.
The men’s gold medal match started out with Humber and the SAIT Trojans trading points and a blank end before the Hawks put the pressure on through ends four, five and six. Up by six heading into the eighth, Humber added another to close out the match 10-3. The Humber Men are now two-time CCAA Curling Champions, including their 2016 win, while SAIT’s Silver Medals mark the team’s first CCAA Curling accolade since winning Gold in 1986.
Bronze Medal Matches
The Concordia Thunder women and Mohawk Mountaineers men captured the Bronze Medals at the 2023 CCAA Curling Canada Championships.
The Thunder found themselves down early to the Humber Hawks and again right after the break. After blanking the seventh the Thunder scored a crucial four points in the eighth and stole another in the ninth to put the match out of reach in the final end. The 8-4 win earned CUE their second women’s team medal and fourth for the program.
The Mohawk men had been among the top performers throughout the competition and demonstrated their strengths in the bronze medal game. The Mountaineers dictated the match against an opponent they know well. The Sault Cougars were still within striking distance after six ends, but Mohawk pulled away for a 9-3 win and the bronze medals. Mohawk’s men’s curling program now has three CCAA medals in total.
Semi-final Matches
The day began with some exciting and surprising semi-final matches as the top seed in both the women and men’s draws fell to the fourth seeds.
Niagara jumped out to an early lead against their semi-final opponents, CUE, but the Thunder kept chipping away and were within one with one to play. Holding the hammer in the tenth, Niagara prevented back-to-back steals by Concordia to win 7-6 and advance for a chance at Gold.
The Humber women’s team came up against a fiery Augustana crew that put up multi point scores across several ends, including four in the second. The deficit was 9-3 after seven, and despite a pair from the Hawks in the eight the Vikings advanced to the final with an 11-5 victory.
The Men’s playoff also featured an inspiring effort from a fourth seeded team from the ACAC. SAIT put up two points in each of the first three ends, surprising the top seeded Mountaineers. Mohawk then mounted a comeback scoring five of their own to make the score 6-5 going into the break. Unphased, the Trojans scored another four through ends 6, 7, and 8 and held off Mohawk’s steal attempts in the tenth to win 10-7.
Humber and Sault’s men’s teams met in a rematch of their final round-robin matchup from the previous night. Every time the Cougars pulled within a point or two of the Hawks, Humber would put up a few more, including three in the eighth to win the match 8-4.
Awards
The top female and male performers were honoured following the competition during the Championship Victory Banquet.
| 2023 Women’s Curling Awards | 2023 Men’s Curling Awards |
| National Champions Gold Augustana Vikings Silver Niagara Knights Bronze Concordia Thunder | National Champions Gold Humber Hawks Silver SAIT Trojans Bronze Mohawk Mountaineers |
| First Team All-Stars Skip Meaghan Mallett (Humber) Third Parker Doig (Humber) Second Jessica Byers (Humber) Lead Darby-Anne Swanson (Augustana) | First Team All-Stars Skip Jacob Jones (Mohawk) Third Austin Snyder (Humber) Second Joel Matthews (Mohawk) Lead Liam Little (Mohawk) |
| Second Team All-Stars Skip Claire Randell (Niagara) Third Payton Sonnenberg (CUE) Second Rachel Jost (CUE) Lead Emma Rebel (Humber) | Second Team All-Stars Skip Jacob Dobson (Humber) Third Eric Just (Mohawk) Second Sean Borkovic (NAIT) Lead Matthew Abrams (Humber) |
| Exemplary Leadership Award The Sault Cougars Ileana Ramírez / Taylor Pelletier-Cuillerier / Abby Hagger / Jayna Petingalo | Exemplary Leadership Award James McCabe (CUE) |
| Curling Canada Coaching Award Taina Smiley (CUE) | Curling Canada Coaching Award Shannon Kleibrink (SAIT) |
Alberta Pandas and Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks win U SPORTS Titles
On the fifth and final day of the 2023 U SPORTS/Curling Canada Championships, it was all about the hardware for the four remaining men’s and women’s teams. When it was all said and done, it was a pair of familiar schools who were hoisting the hardware: Laurier (men’s) and Alberta (women’s).
In the men’s semifinals, the two games could not have been any different. In the Queen’s-Laurier matchup, the Golden Hawks jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and, after the teams traded deuces, led 6-3 at the fifth end break. After stealing singles in both the sixth and seventh ends, the Golden Hawks appeared to be well on their way to the gold medal match but a massive score of 6 by Queen’s in the eighth catapulted them into the lead with two ends to play. The Gaels managed to steal a single in the ninth to take a two-point advantage into the tenth but when their final shot failed to roll under cover, the Golden Hawks had an open hit to score 4 and win the game 12-10.
In the Laurentian-Dalhousie matchup, the teams played a very clean game with Dalhousie’s opening deuce accounting for the majority of the offence in the first half as the Tigers led 3-1 at the break. The Voyageurs switched gears coming out of the break and managed a single in six before stealing two in the seventh to take a 4-3 lead. After blanking the next two ends, the Tigers’ Adam McEachren had a fantastic draw threw the port to the button on his last to send the game to extra ends. After McEachren sat frozen to the Laurentian stone on the side of the button, Laurentian’s Jacob Horgan was forced to play a difficult in-off in an attempt to remove the red stone. His shot ended up being thin by just millimeters as he picked out his own, leaving the Dalhousie stone in place and sending the Tigers to the gold medal game.
On the women’s side, Memorial and Alberta played to a very defensive 3-2 score line before the Pandas blew the game open with 5 in the eighth end. The Sea-Hawks rebounded with a pair in the ninth but, needing two more in the final end to force extras, the Pandas held them to a single, punching their ticket into the gold medal game.
In the second semi, Laurentian jumped out to an early 2-0 lead but Dalhousie responded with four of their own over the next two ends. The teams traded points over the next four ends but in the eighth, it was the Tigers taking advantage of a Laurentian miss to steal three and jump out to a 10-5 lead. The Voyageurs could only muster a single in the ninth before conceding, sending the Tigers to the national championship game.
In the men’s gold medal game, Laurier’s Sam Mooibroek had a draw for 3 in the third end after the Dalhousie raise was not hard enough, giving the Golden Hawks a 5-1 lead. In the sixth end, Mooibroek played a fantastic in-off into jam-packed four foot to salvage a single. After the Tigers picked up a pair in the seventh, McEachren was looking at a pair in the rings and one in front of the house. Knowing he needed something special to stay in contention, McEachren attempted a split to score four and tie the game but his shot stone just ran out of gas before it got into the rings and the Tigers had to settle for three. Mooibroek did not have to throw his last in the tenth end as the Golden Hawks emerged with a 9-7 victory and back-to-back U SPORTS titles.
In the women’s gold medal game, after a pair of steals, Dalhousie held a 2-0 lead heading into the fourth end despite not yet having hammer. Alberta finally got on the board in the fifth when Serena Gray-Withers executed a delicate hit for one. In the seventh end, Gray-Withers had an open draw for two, the only multiple score of the game, and the teams were knotted at 3 with three ends to play. In the next end, Dalhousie’s Marin Callaghan had a hit for four and a big lead but when the granite finally settled, it was only a score of one for the Tigers. After Alberta picked up one in the ninth, Dalhousie just needed a single while carrying the hammer into the tenth. With the final stone in her hands, Callaghan needed to pick the Alberta stone off the button to earn a win. She made a wonderful shot and picked the stone clean but elation turned to heartbreak when the picked stone jammed on a stone in the back 12-foot and instead, it was Alberta jumping for joy with the steal and their second consecutive U SPORTS banner, winning 5-4.
In the bronze medal games, Bella Lehtimaki-Croisier’s final shot stopped just in time in the four-foot to give Laurentian a 6-5 win over Memorial while Jacob Horgan’s final shot slid an inch too far and Queen’s did not have to throw their last, beating Laurentian 6-5.
All-Canadians and other major awards were also given Sunday night following the championship. The recipients were:
ALL CANADIANS
Second Team Women
- LEAD: EMILY NEARY (Memorial)
- SECOND: ABBY DESCHENE (Laurentian)
- THIRD: GRACE LLOYD (McMaster)
- SKIP: MARIN CALLAGHAN (Dalhousie)
Second Team Men
- LEAD: SCOTT WEAGLE (Saint Mary’s)
- SECOND: WYATT SMALL (Wilfrid Laurier)
- THIRD: DESMOND YOUNG (Alberta)
- SKIP: JACON HORGAN (Laurentian)
First Team Women
- LEAD: GRACE MCCUSKER (Dalhousie)
- SECOND: EVELYN ROBERT (McMaster)
- THIRD: PIPER CROISIER (Laurentian)
- SKIP: BELLA CROISIER (Laurentian)
First Team Men
- LEAD: GABE DYCK (Alberta)
- SECOND: BEN MORIN (Alberta)
- THIRD: DEREK BOYER (Calgary)
- SKIP: SAM MOOIBROEK (Wilfrid Laurier)
USPORTS National Coaching Award
- For coach of a Women’s team: MARK NOSEWORTHY (Memorial)
- For coach of a Men’s team: DAVID WILLIAMS (Dalhousie)
R.W PUGH FAIR PLAY AND SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD
- Men: KIBO MULIMA (Wilfrid Laurier)
- Women: LINDSEY BURGESS (Dalhousie)