Varsity Blues skip Pat Janssen guided his team to a silver medal at this year’s OUA curling championships, hosted by the University of Waterloo Warriors at the Granite Curling Club in Waterloo, Ont., Feb. 13-14.
A dual-sport athlete in both baseball and curling, Janssen along with vice Bill Francis of Toronto, second Jonathan Braden (Bow Island, Alta.) and lead Matthew Hardman of Markham, Ont. were just shy of OUA gold, falling 9-8 in extra ends to the defending champions Western Mustangs.
A Toronto native, Janssen led the way as the U of T sailed through their first two opening draws, defeating the Laurentian Voyageurs 7-2 and the Western Mustangs 5-2 before falling 3-2 to the Trent Excalibur.
Tied with the Mustangs after the round-robin, the Blues were awarded the top seed and a bye into the final based on head-to-head performance versus the Mustangs. With that bye into the gold-medal game, Toronto also secured a berth into the 2010 CIS/CCA curling championships, which will be held at the University of Alberta, March 11-14.
Holding the hammer, the Blues opened up a quick lead in the first end when Janssen drew to the 4’ to score three. The Mustangs got one back in the second end before Janssen made a sensational shot, an angled run back, to take two and extend Toronto’s lead to 5-1 at the end of three.
A shaky fourth allowed Western to get back into the game. The Mustangs were able to capitalize on misses by Francis and Janssen to score four and tie things at the halfway point.
Western extended its lead, stealing one in the fifth and another two in the sixth when Janssen’s last shot wrecked on a guard.
Down three with only two ends to go, Toronto pulled things together as they strategized and successfully countered their opponent’s defensive approach by scoring two in the seventh to pull within one going into the last end
Going into the eighth, the Blues were without last rock and played a strategic end to try and get the steal. With two in the house, Western was only able to take out one on last rock enabling Toronto to steal one and force extra ends.
It would all come down to the final two shots in the ninth with the Mustangs holding the hammer. Janssen’s last shot took out all remaining rocks from his opponents and left three of his own in the eight-foot circle of the house. However, Western skip Evan Lilly would deliver the shot of the day with a perfect draw to the button, around the trio of Toronto rocks, and take the final 9-8.
NOTES: Janssen and Frances were named OUA first all-stars, while Hardman picked up second-team recognition.
Janssen was also named a 2008-09 OUA first-team all-star outfielder in baseball.
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