Silver at nationals for men’s curling

Men's curling gold medal game (Heather Davidson)
(Photo by Hedder Davidson)

March 21 marked a historic day for the Wilfrid Laurier University men’s curling team, as they captured the Canadian Interuniversity Sport silver medal, after losing to the University of Alberta 6-4 in the finals.

The men’s rink, consisting of fourth-year lead Fraser Reid, third-year second Spencer Nuttall, fourth-year vice Richard Krell and fourth-year skip Aaron Squires, improved on their bronze-medal performance of last year with the second-place finish. Laurier won gold in the inaugural 2007-08 national championship.

“Feels great, we did really well today. It’s hard to be upset and Alberta played fantastic so hats off to them,” Krell said after capturing the silver medal.

After opening up the day with a commanding 9-2 victory over the Saint Mary’s Huskies in the semifinal, the Golden Hawks had a tough task in facing against the Alberta Golden Bears for CIS gold. The game remained tight, with both teams trading a single each and blanking ends up until the fifth end break. In the sixth, Squires made an uncharacteristic error going for the inside-out tap, but it flashed, allowing Alberta to score a double. Alberta would take another double after limiting the Hawks to a single point, to take a 5-2 lead after the eighth end.

The Hawks would pick up a double to cut the lead to one after nine, and after lying two Alberta’s skip Thomas Scoffin threw a tap for the win.

The loss marks the end of a dominant season for the Hawks, who went 6-1 in the round robin and finished second going into the playoffs. The men also captured the OUA gold earlier in February.

All of the members of the current varsity team will be coming back next year, keeping the core of the team together for three straight years with no turnover.

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