MISSISSAUGA, ON: The Niagara Knights curling teams traveled the short distance to the Dixie Curling Club in Mississauga to compete in the OCAA Curling Championship hosted by Humber College from February 4th to 7th. Niagara entered 4 teams in total into the event – a women's team, a men's team, and 2 mixed doubles teams.
Women's Division
The Knights women's curling team for the OCAA curling championship consisted of skip Julia Markle, vice Megan Ford, second Cassie Barnard, lead Briana Szigeti-Jonasson, and alternate Carmen Warboys. Round robin play for the women began Wednesday afternoon which they kicked off with a win against the Sault Cougars. They went on to win 4 out of their 5 round robin games and finish 1st in the women's division. They took on the 4th place Durham Lords in the semi-final and aome out with a demanding 12-2 win, which placed them in the gold medal game.
In the gold medal game, they faced the defending Humber Hawks, which was the only team the Knights lost to in round robin play. The first half of this game was very close with each team trading single points back and forth until the Knights broke it open with the game's first deuce in the 5th end and a steal of 1 in the 6th end. The Hawks were not ready to back down as they came back with their own deuce in the 7th to put this game within 1 with one end to play. The 8th was a very well curled end by both teams, but the Knights had a slight advantage by being up 1 point and throwing the last rock. Two beautiful shots by the Humber skip forced a pair of incredible shots from Niagara's skip, which she executed perfectly to seal the win. Head coach Chris Poulouski was gushing after this game: "I am so proud of our women's curling team - things were not easy at the start, but we stuck to our philosophy and as a result they came together as a team and are now provincial champions".
This is the Knights curling program's first medal since the women's team won silver in the 2022-2023 season. The women's team will head to Regina, Saskatchewan for the CCAA Curling National Championship being hosted by the University of Regina in conjunction with Curling Canada and U Sports. This championship will take place from February 17th through 21st. You can follow along and cheer on the Knights through the Curling Canada website: https://www.curling.ca/scoreboard/#/events/26716.
Men's Division
The Knight's men's curling team for the OCAA curling championship consisted of skip- Aidan Luk, vice Gavin Gaston, second Ashton Butt, lead Tyler Ramos, and alternate Will Mitchell. Round robin play for the men's team began on Wednesday afternoon with a game against the eventual gold medalist Sault Cougars. The men would go on to play two games on Thursday and two games on Friday to finish the round robin 1-4, 5th in the pool and 1 place outside of qualifying for the playoffs. The men kept most of their games close this week and a few subtle changes would have seen their record improve and more than likely qualify for playoffs. When asked about their week, head coach Richard Reist sees lots of potential with his team: "They are a great group, and all stepped up to take on different roles and throw all sorts of different shots this week". He went on to add "it was a great learning experience for this team, and they will hope to carry this learning into next season as they make another push for an OCAA medal and CCAA championship berth".
Mixed Doubles Division
The Niagara Knights entered two teams into the mixed doubles competition – 'mixed doubles 1' was comprised of Noah LeBrun and Emma Riches while 'mixed doubles 2' was comprised of Tavish Stewart and Cassie Muzyka.
Unfortunately, Niagara College was the only school who was able to field a team in this year's mixed doubles competition, so the two Knights teams played against each other. They played a round robin game which Tavish and Cassie won followed by a medal game which Noah and Emma won and ultimately took the OCAA gold medal home from.
