REGINA — It came down to their final game of the round robin and a must-win situation, but Chloe Johnston and her Regina Cougars teammates got the job done, and now they’re off to the semifinals at the U Sports Canadian women’s curling championship.
Johnston and her rink of third Tesa Silversides, second Hannah Rugg, lead Lauren Speidel, alternate Makena Bailey and coach Danielle Sicinski dropped their opening game of the day 8-5 to Alberta’s Gracelyn Richards but rebounded with 7-3 victory over New Brunswick’s Jenna Campbell to finish with a 4-3 record after the round robin.
That was good enough for fourth place and a spot in the final four on Saturday morning.
It was a back-and-forth start against Alberta, as Richards scored three in the first end, Johnston replied with three in the second and Alberta tacked on another three in the third for a 6-3 edge. That would be the final multiple-point end of the game as the teams exchanged single points the rest of the way, leading to Alberta’s 8-5 win.
That loss meant the final draw of the preliminary round between Regina and New Brunswick — both 3-3 — would decide the final playoff spot, and Johnston didn’t leave much up to chance.
It was close early, with New Brunswick holding a 3-2 lead through four ends, but Regina took over from there, scoring one in the fifth and stealing single points the next two ends to lead 5-3 coming home. Johnston then finished things off in style, scoring another two in the eighth to cap the win and book her playoff spot.
Other results from the morning draw saw Queen’s Ava Acres take a 5-4 extra end win over Memorial’s Cailey Locke, Guelph’s Katrina Frian roll to a 7-3 win over Calgary’s Ava Koe and New Brunswick keep their playoff hopes alive with a 6-5 extra-end victory over McMaster’s Evelyn Robert.
Other evening draw scores saw Alberta score three over the final two ends for a 6-5 win over McMaster, Queen’s steal a pair in the eighth for a 4-2 victory against Guelph and Memorial score seven in the final two ends to down Calgary 11-4.
Final round robin standings are as follows:
Memorial 5-2
Alberta 5-2
Regina 4-3
McMaster 4-3
Queen’s 3-4
New Brunswick 3-4
Guelph 3-4
Calgary 1-6
Regina will now face Memorial in one semifinal, with Alberta taking on McMaster in the other. Both those contests are at 9 a.m., with the medal games set for 1 p.m.
Regina’s Carter Williamson didn’t have a lot of luck this past week in the U Sports Canadian men’s curling championship, and they were unable to find the win column in the final day of round robin action.
Williamson, third Rhett Whittmire, second Andrew Moulding, lead Nathan Weiss, alternate Evan Arnold and coach Garret Springer opened with a 5-3 loss to York’s Ryan Mayville before falling 3-1 to Alberta’s Zachary Davies.
As a result, they finished with a 1-6 record and in eighth place overall.
Single points in the second, fourth and sixth ends saw York holding a 3-2 lead heading into the final two ends, and after Williamson tied things up with a deuce in the seventh, Mayville put up a pair of his own in the final end to secure the win.
The final outing for Regina was a defensive battle, with Alberta taking one in the season and Regina blanking the next two ends before scoring one in the fifth. Davies picked up another single points in the sixth, stole one in the seventh and then ran Regina out of rocks in the eighth to take the narrow win.
Other results in the first men’s draw Friday saw Calgary’s Kenan Wipf score four in the third and go on to an 11-6 win over Alberta, Wilfrid Laurier’s Kibo Mulima defeat Dalhousie’s Owen McPherson 8-4 and Carleton’s Owen Nicholls take only three ends to put up an 8-0 win over Memorial’s Simon Perry.
Final draw action saw Dalhousie pick up single points the final two ends for a 5-4 win over Memorial, Wilfrid Laurier take a 6-3 win over Carleton and Calgary score five in the final end for a 11-2 win over York.
Final round robin standings are as follows:
Carleton 6-1
Calgary 5-2
Memorial 4-3
Alberta 4-3
Wilfrid Laurier 4-3
York 2-5
Dalhousie 2-5
Regina 1-6
The men’s semifinals will see Carleton facing Alberta and Calgary against Memorial, with both games at 9 a.m. The medal games follow immediately after at 1 p.m.
You can catch all the scores from championship Saturday on www.curling.ca.
