U of T has made a dramatic entrance into the Canadian university curling scene, as the Varsity men’s curling team clinched first place at the Canadian university curling championship on March 19-21. The team’s victory over the University of Manitoba in the finals marks the ultimately successful end of their first time playing in the national championship.
The Blues slowly and steadily ratcheted their way up the championship ladder last weekend until facing Brock in the semi-finals. There, they barely scraped by with a score of 7-6.
The men fared better in the final match, in which they defeated Manitoba 9-2. “We were struggling at first,” recounted team skip Kevin Flewwelling, “but we tied after four ends. After five ends, we were 7-2.” Flewwelling said that the game ended prematurely when the teams decided to shake on it. “The game ended early. They weren’t curling well and we just weren’t missing.”
Flewwelling described the team’s first time victory as “Awesome. I’m very proud of my team. We weren’t sure what kind of competition we’d be getting, so we set a goal to reach the playoffs, and we realized we could win it.”
One of the major factors to which the team attributes the win was outstanding teamwork, said Flewwelling. The team had been playing together for quite some time, having played in some 50 games and practicing every week. Many other teams had played together considerably less. Coach Tara McAninch agreed, saying that “all of the players played well, you can’t pick one over the others.” She also said that all of the team’s present roster will be returning next year, as none are due to graduate this year.
Flewwelling said that his team hoped to return to next year’s national championships. “This year we were lucky enough to get university funding and some sponsorship. Not sure if we’ll get the same kind of funding next year. It’s a great tournament, we’d love to go again.” He said that his team will definitely be competing provincially, in the Ontario University Athletics Association (OUA), in which U of T is a regular competitor. This year, in fact, the team snatched the silver medal at the OUA’s, losing out first place to Queen’s.
