The Varsity Blues men’s and women’s curling teams competed at the 2013 OUA championships this past weekend (Feb. 14-17) at Guelph Curling Club.
 
Toronto’s men went 3-3 over four days of action, narrowly missing the playoff round.
 
The Blues opened the tournament with an 8-5 loss to the host Laurier Golden Hawks. Despite getting out to a quick 4-3 lead, U of T came out flat in the second half of the game, only scoring one more point. The Hawks ran the Blues out of stones in the final end to secure the win.
 
U of T then came back to earn a dominant 10-0 win over the Brock Badgers before topping the Windsor lancers, 7-4, on Friday morning. The Blues jumped out to a 7-1 lead after four ends and it was smooth sailing to victory from there.
 
Toronto’s last win of the weekend came in a come-from-behind 7-6 victory over the UOIT Ridgebacks on Saturday morning. Down 3-0 after two ends, the Blues battled back with three points in the fifth. The team teams remained tied going into the last end and the Blues proved victorious.
 
An exciting matchup between Waterloo and Toronto went to extra ends on Sunday morning. Tied at four and without hammer, the Warriors managed to steal a single point to pick up the 5-4 win to remain unbeaten and clinch first place in the pool.
 
The loss dropped Toronto to 3-2 and going into their final game with Trent (4-1), the Varsity Blues needed a victory to force a tiebreaker. However, the Excalibur and skip Michael Bryson, who had been playing well all week, stole four points in the opening three ends before cruising to a 7-4 victory to earn second spot in Pool A. Blues skip Evan Lilly made some very difficult shots in the loss.
 
The Varsity Blues women posted a 2-4 record over the weekend, with victories over the Waterloo Warriors on Friday and the Windsor Lancers on Sunday.
 
After falling to the Brock Badgers and Western Mustangs on Day 1, head coach Scott Jenkins shaked up the women’s line-up for a fresh start versus the Warriors. With Nicole Seto taking over as skip, the team teams traded points back and forth, with Toronto taking a 5-4 lead after six ends. A big end in the seventh and a steal of two put the game out of reach for the Warriors in the 7-4 victory.
 
Two losses to McMaster and Trent would knock U of T’s women out of playoff contention; however, the Blues ended the weekend on a high note with a 7-5 victory over the Windsor Lancers.
 
 
 
 
 
Men's Final Round Robin Standings

Pool A
Waterloo 5-1
Trent 5-1
Laurier 3-3
Toronto 3-3
Brock 3-3
Windsor 1-5
UOIT 1-5
 
Pool B
Queen's 5-0
Carleton 4-1
Laurentian 3-2
Guelph 2-3
Western 1-4
Lakehead 0-5

Women's Final Round Robin Standings

Pool A
Guelph 5-1
Carleton 4-2
UOIT 4-2
Queen's 3-3
Laurier 3-3
Laurentian 2-4
Lakehead 0-6
 
Pool B
Western 5-1
McMaster 5-1
Brock 5-1
Trent 3-3
Toronto 2-4
Windsor 1-5
Waterloo 0-6