EDMONTON — The University of Regina’s Chloe Johnston came a single win away from claiming the Canada West women’s curling championship on Sunday afternoon.
Instead, Johnston and her rink of third Tessa Silversides, second Hannah Rugg and lead Lauren Speidel would drop a 6-2 decision to Alberta’s Gracelyn Richards and settle for a second place finish in Edmonton.
Things went far better for Regina earlier in the day, as they took a 7-4 victory over UBC Okanagan’s JIllian Evans in their semifinal contest to book their spot in the gold medal game.
That contest was under Johnston’s control early, as she’d pick up points in each of the first five ends. That includes a single in the first, steal of one in the second, three in the third, another in the fourth and one more in the fifth for a 7-0 lead at the break. Evans wouldn’t go quietly, though, scoring three in the sixth and another in the seventh, but Johnston would run her out of rocks in the eighth.
The Canada West women’s title game was a low-scoring battle in the early going, as Alberta picked up a deuce in the first end and Regina a single in the third for the only points in the first four ends. Richards picked up a deuce in the fifth for a 4-1 lead, and after holding Johnston to one in the sixth, Alberta would score another two in the seventh to bring things to an early end.
With USports championship host Regina making the final and the top two teams advancing, the Calgary Dinos and UBC Okanagan played a third-place game to decide the third qualifier, with Calgary’s Ava Koe taking a 7-3 victory.
As a result, the Alberta Golden Bears and Calgary Dinos will join the Regina Cougars at the USports national women’s curling championship beginning Feb. 17 at the Callie Curling Club in Regina.
Things didn’t go quite as well for Regina’s Carter Williamson, third Rhett Whittmire, second Andrew Moulding and lead Evan Arnold in the Canada West men’s championship, as they’d fall 5-3 to Alberta’s Zach Davies in their semifinal contest.
Things were back-and-forth in the early going of that game, as the teams exchanged single points the first three ends and Regina took a 2-1 lead out of the third end. Alberta picked up the only deuce of the game in the fourth to take a 3-2 lead, but Wililamson would come right back with a single point to tie things up with three ends to play. Davies would then take the lead with one in the sixth and steal another in the seventh to go up 5-3 before running Regina out of rocks in the final end.
Calgary’s Kenan Wipf would defeat Alberta 7-4 to claim the Canada West championship.
The Calgary Dinos, Alberta Golden Bears and host Regina Cougars will now represent Canada West at the USports national men’s championship, also beginning Feb. 17 in Regina.
