MCURL | Laurentian’s OUA Run Ends in Quarterfinals

The Laurentian men's curling team took to the ice this weekend at the OUA Championships in Welland. The Voyageurs finished 2–2 in round-robin play, earning the seventh seed and a spot in the quarterfinals before their tournament run came to an end against Carleton in the quarterfinals.

Round Robin Play

Laurentian opened the championships early Friday morning in draw one against the reigning OUA champion McMaster Marauders. In a matchup featuring the previous two conference champions, McMaster edged out the Voyageurs with a narrow 7–6 victory. The Vees started with the hammer and scored two in the opening end. McMaster responded with a single in the second before stealing one in the third to even the score. Laurentian answered with another deuce in the fourth to take a 4–2 lead at the midway point. With the Marauders holding the hammer in the fifth, Laurentian limited them to one, but the sixth end proved costly as McMaster stole three to jump ahead 6–4. Laurentian responded once again with a two in the seventh to tie the game heading into the final end, but McMaster secured the win with a single to close out the match.

Later Friday evening in draw three, Laurentian rebounded with a convincing 9–2 win over the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks, earning their first victory of the championship. Much like their opener, the Voyageurs started with the hammer and put two on the board in the first end. After surrendering a steal of three to McMaster earlier in the day, Laurentian flipped the script by stealing three from Ontario Tech in the second, building a commanding 5–0 lead. The Vees added another steal in the third and cruised to the win, which ended after seven ends.

Saturday morning's draw five saw Laurentian face the Waterloo Warriors, who controlled the match en route to a 7–3 win, forcing the Vees to concede after six ends. Waterloo began with the hammer and scored two in the first. The defining storyline was Laurentian's difficulty capitalizing with last rock, as they were limited to singles in all three hammer ends. Waterloo added three in the third and two more in the fifth to seal the victory.

In their final round-robin contest Saturday evening against the TMU Bold, the Voyageurs needed a win to secure a playoff berth—and delivered with a 6–2 victory. For the third time in four games, Laurentian started with the hammer. The opening two ends were blanked as both teams settled in, before the Vees broke through with a deuce in the third. TMU responded with two of their own to tie the game through four ends. Laurentian scored a single in the fifth before stealing two in the sixth and one in the seventh to punch their ticket to the quarterfinals.

Quarterfinals

Laurentian faced the second-seeded Carleton Ravens in the quarterfinals. Carleton entered the matchup undefeated at 4–0, outscoring opponents 37–9 in round-robin play. The Ravens opened with a single in the first, which Laurentian matched in the second. Carleton managed one in the third before stealing a crucial point to take a 3–1 lead at the halfway mark. Laurentian responded with a deuce in the fifth to tie the game, pushing Carleton harder than any opponent had to that point. However, the Ravens answered immediately, scoring two in the sixth and stealing single points in each of the final two ends to advance to the semifinals.

- Olly Sankar