The Knights had their day at the OCAA Championships as both the men's and women's curling teams from Fleming Peterborough captured gold in the finals of the 2009 Ontario Colleges Athletic Association Curling Championships at the Glendale Curling Club, hosted
by Mohawk College in Hamilton.

On the men's side, the Knights led by skip Trevor Mundle (Niagara Falls), vice Garett Ward (Bancroft), second Adam Gagne (Elliot Lake) and lead Adam Baer (Peterborough) and fifth Carson Nunn (Brantford) went a perfect 7-0 in the round-robin and defeated Niagara in the
final 8-1.

Baer and Mundle were teammates last year and the remainder were first-year players, making the victory even more surprising, says head coach Steve Whitehill.

"It's a super feeling and we honestly didn't expect to do as well as we did," said Whitehill. "It was total team play that did it for us. Our skip was comfortable on the ice throughout and executed the soft game really well -- better than anyone else there.

"I'm just totally ecstatic for our guys," he said.

The impressive performance by the Knights marked the first time the college has captured gold in the Men’s event.

The Sault Cougars were awarded the bronze medal as they fell 7-3 to Niagara in the Semi-final.

On the women's side, the Knights faced adversity on and off the ice, but persevered for a three-peat performance, winning their third straight gold thanks to a 7-5 final victory over the Confederation College Thunder Hawks. "We had lost to them twice and we knew if we could meet them again we wouldn't be pushovers," said Knights' head coach David Parnell.

The women's team includes skip Lindsay Graham (Kingston), vice Jamie-Lee Lyne (Caledonia), second Robyn Finner (Ottawa Valley), lead Kira Bateman (Thunder Bay) and fifth Amanda Prosser (Peterborough).

The women's team had to overcome the loss of Lyne, who was hospitalized early Friday morning, allowing Prosser to step in to play three games. After a pair of victories, the Knights dropped two decisions to Confederation, forcing them to play a page playoff game.
In that contest, the Knights edged the Mohawk College Mountaineers 6-5 in an extra end.

"Jamie-Lee came back yesterday and said 'put me in coach' for the final and she performed great," said Parnell.

"Before this tournament, Amanda hadn't played a whole lot but she stepped in, played well and gave us a chance to make the playoffs."

Prior to the three-consecutive championships, the Knights also captured two-consecutive silvers.

"When we're winning like this it keeps me coming back; it's fun," quipped Parnell.

The Algoma Thunderbirds won gold in Mixed Curling in dominate fashion as they defeated St. Clair 10-2 in the final. The Thunderbirds soared though Round Robin play failing to drop a game, finishing with a 4-0 record and a free pass to the Championship final. The team of Clint Cudmore, Jamie Sammon, Brendan Hodgson, Sara Bennett and Kelsey Janveaum made all their shots in the final helping them earn a 10-2 win over St. Clair and the right to call themselves OCAA Champions.

St. Clair defeated Mohawk 4-3 in the Semi-final in order to advance to the final. Mohawk was award the bronze medal for their efforts Fleming Peterborough is the first school to capture both the Men’s and Women’s titles in the same year since Confederation completed the feat in 2004-2005.

"When (Fleming College athletics director) Fred Batley sees us return with two banners and two gold medals, he's going to be ecstatic. It was one fantastic bus ride back from Hamilton, that's for sure," added Fleming’s Parnell on the Knights feat.

(With file from the Peterborough This Week)

CURLING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2009

Men’s
Gold – Fleming Peterborough Knights
Silver – Niagara Knights
Bronze – Sault Cougars
Fair Play – St Clair Saints.

Women’s
Gold – Fleming Peterborough Knights
Silver – Confederation Thunderhawks
Fair Play – Fleming Peterborough

Mixed
Gold – Algoma Thunderbirds
Silver – St Clair Saints
Bronze – Mohawk Mountaineers
Fair Play - Sault Cougars

For complete results, please click on the following link

OCAA Curling Championship Website