Opening night didn’t go the way the hometown faithful had hoped at the Callie Curling Club.
It was a tough start for the host University of Regina Cougars at the U Sports/CCAA Canadian Curling Championships, as both the men’s and women’s teams dropped their opening draws on Tuesday.
The Regina men, skipped by Carter Williamson, opened against Carleton University and showed early signs they were ready for the moment.
Williamson started things with a single in the first end — a steady, workmanlike beginning in front of the home crowd.
But Carleton answered immediately with a deuce in the second, and that’s when the ice began to tilt.
Carleton skip Owen Nicholls delivered the decisive blow in the third end, stealing three to surge ahead 5-1. In a championship field, that’s the kind of swing that forces you to chase.
Williamson managed to stop the bleeding with a single before the fourth-end break, trimming the deficit to 5-2. The teams traded singles in the sixth and seventh ends, but Regina couldn’t generate the multiple-point end they desperately needed.
In the eighth, Carleton applied the vice grips — running the Cougars out of rocks to seal a 7-3 victory.
It’s a long week, but the margin for error at nationals is razor-thin. Regina learned that quickly.
Williamson and the men are back on the ice Wednesday, facing Dalhousie University at 1 p.m. before a primetime clash with Wilfrid Laurier University at 7:30 p.m.
On the women’s side, skip Chloe Johnston and her Regina rink ran into a Guelph team that didn’t miss much of anything early.
University of Guelph came out firing, capitalizing on every opportunity while putting three on the board in the opening end.
Johnston responded with hammer in the second, drawing for a single to make it 3-1. After a blank third end, however, the game turned dramatically.
Guelph skip Katrina Frlan orchestrated a five-point fourth end — the kind that forces you into gamble mode the rest of the way — sending Regina to the break staring at an 8-1 deficit.
From there, Johnston had no choice but to push.
In the fifth, she rolled the dice trying to manufacture a big end, but instead surrendered a steal of two. To their credit, the Cougars didn’t pack it in. Regina answered with a pair in the sixth, but the hole was simply too deep.
The teams shook hands at 10-3.
Like the men’s squad, the women don’t have long to dwell on it. Johnston returns to the ice Wednesday for a noon matchup with Queen's University, followed by an evening draw against the University of Calgary at 8 p.m.
