LEDUC, Alta. - The Fanshawe Falcons earned a dramatic, extra-end win over the Camosun Chargers to claim the 2018 CCAA/Curling Canada Championship.
The women's gold medal game saw the No. 1-seeded Falcons do battle with the No. 2 seed Chargers. Play for most of the match was fairly conservative with five blank ends throughout. The Falcons jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after the first end, and Camosun answered back with two points of their own in the third end to tie things up. The game would remain tied until the eighth end with Fanshawe scoring two to take a 4-2 lead into the home stretch.
Determined to complete a comeback, the Chargers settled for one in the ninth end and stole a single in the 10th after a Falcons miss to force an 11th end. The national title went down to the final stone for Falcons skip Kaitlyn Poirier. With the Chargers sitting shot rock on the four foot with a half guard on the 12 foot, the Falcons had second shot. Poirier had to take out the shot stone, missing the front guard by the closest of margins to peel the Camosun rock and score one to win a CCAA gold medal by a score of 5-4.
This was Fanshawe College's fourth CCAA Women's Curling National Championship title since 2012 while the Chargers became the feel good story of the week. Camosun won their first women's curling medal in school history as they curled with only three players, after third Jordan Koster sustained a leg injury prior to the championships and was unable to participate.
The women's bronze medal game was another all-ACAC affair between the No. 3- seeded NAIT Ooks and the No. 4-ranked MacEwan University Griffins. The game started off slow with both teams trading singles in the first two ends, followed by the Griffins stealing one point in the third to take the lead 2-1. The Ooks would take control in the fourth with a score of two and a steal of one in the fifth, taking a 4-2 lead into the break.
Coming out of the technical timeout, the Griffins would settle for a single in the sixth end and steal a huge three points in the eighth end and regaining the lead over the Ooks, 6-4. NAIT would mount their own comeback to score two in the ninth end, tying the game at 6-6, before putting away the Griffins for good with a steal of two in the 10th to claim the bronze medal with an 8-6 victory. This was the Ooks' sixth CCAA women's curling medal in the last seven years.
ROYALS ROAR TO NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
The Douglas Royals won the 2018 CCAA/Canada Curling Championship 7-3 over the defending champion Fanshawe Falcons.
The Royals entered the men's gold medal game undefeated while the Falcons had finished the preliminary rounds ranked second. Staying true to form throughout the championships, the Royals would make few mistakes and provide little to no window of opportunity for opponents to score and take control of a game. The Royals opened the scoring in the first end with two points, which the Falcons would answer with a scattering of singles in the second and fourth end, heading into the break tied at 2-2. In the sixth end, the Royals would settle for a single against a pesky Falcons team, before blowing the game wide open with a gut-wrenching steal of four in the seventh after a Fanshawe miscue to take a 7-2 lead into the homestretch.
The Falcons would regain their composure but missed an opportunity for multiple points in the ninth to complete the comeback and scoring only one point. After nine ends the teams would shake hands as the Douglas College Royals won gold by a final score of 7-3. This was the second CCAA Men's Curling National Championship title for the Royals, with their last coming nearly 30 years ago in 1990. For the Falcons, this was a heartbreaking loss as they failed to defend their title from 2017, however did manage their fifth CCAA medal since 2012.
The men's bronze medal match featured two ACAC teams, the No. 3-seeded NAIT Ooks doing battle with No. 4-ranked University of Alberta-Augustana Vikings. The Ooks came out flying to start the game by taking an exclamation point score of three in the first end and followed it up with a steal of one in the second. The Vikings would regroup to score one in the third end and steal a single in the fourth to cut the deficit in half. Yet the Ooks were relentless in their offence as they added two more in the fifth and another steal of one in the sixth to take a commanding 7-2 lead. The teams would trade single scores over the next three ends before shaking hands after the ninth, giving the Ooks the bronze medal with a final score of 8-4. This was the fourth CCAA medal for the Ooks since 2013.
Source: Curling Canada/CCAA Communications