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Canada’s best university curling teams take to the ice at the Kelowna Curling Club beginning on Sunday.
Eight teams of each gender compete in the ninth edition of the four-day event, staged in partnership among Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Curling Canada and UBC Okanagan.
The teams play a round robin ending Tuesday evening, with the top four finishers qualifying for the semifinals pitting 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3 on Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m.
The winners advance to their respective finals in the afternoon at 2:30 p.m. local (PT), while the losers meet in bronze-medal games at the same time.
The winning teams will represent Canada at FISU’s 28th Winter Universiade, Jan. 28-Feb. 8, 2017 at Almaty, Kazakhstan.
The women’s field features University of Alberta Pandas skip Kelsey Rocque, a two-time Canadian and world junior champion and the defending CIS-Curling Canada champion.
Rocque won gold for Alberta at the 2014 Canadian Juniors at Liverpool, N.S., then took the world junior women’s crown for Canada at Flims, Switzerland. Last year, she successfully defended both titles, winning the Canadian Juniors at Corner Brook, N.L., then going unbeaten at the world juniors at Tallinn, Estonia.
She capped off a remarkable year by capturing her first CIS-CC championship at Waterloo, Ont., defeating Corryn Brown of Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops in the final after being the runner-up in two previous CIS-CC Championships. Rocque and Brown were voted the first- and second-team all-star skips, respectively.
Rocque also participated in the 2015 Home Hardware Canada Cup last December at Grande Prairie, Alta., competing against some of the finest women skips in the world, including Jennifer Jones, Rachel Homan and Val Sweeting.
Brown, winner of the 2013 Canadian Juniors at Fort McMurray, Alta. when representing British Columbia, returns for a third straight year as the skip of the Thompson Rivers University Wolfpack that includes third Erin Pincott, second Samantha Fisher and lead Ashley Nordin.
Brown says having the nationals just two and a half hours away will be advantageous for the WolfPack .
“It takes out a whole travel day for us and the time change is great in that we don’t have to deal with that. We have never played a nationals in B.C., so that is kind of neat. Our families will be able to come watch as well. “
That sentiment is echoed by Fisher. “There is something special about having your family being able to watch you. When we played at the B.C. junior playdowns in Kamloops earlier this year, it was great to have them there. This should be the same experience.”
Also competing this year is Dalhousie University Tigers skip Kristin Clarke of Halifax, who on Sunday captured a gold medal at the 2016 World Junior Championships at Taarnby, Denmark, as third for Canada’s Mary Fay, after winning the 2016 Canadian Juniors at Stratford, Ont.
Another skip with national experience is Waterloo’s Chelsea Brandwood of Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks, who was the silver medallist when skipping Ontario at the 2015 Canadian Juniors, losing the final to Rocque.
Heading the men’s lineup is defending champion skip Thomas Scoffin of the University of Alberta Golden Bears. Scoffin, who also appeared in a record seven Canadian juniors championships as skip — six for Yukon and one for Alberta, won the gold medal last year at Waterloo, Ont., defeating Aaron Squires of Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks in the final.
A former Ontario junior champion, Squires, who was voted first team all-star honours at last year’s CIS-CC championship (Scoffin was the second team all-star skip), will once again represent Waterloo’s Wilfrid Laurier.
Other skips include former provincial junior champions Matthew Manuel of Nova Scotia (Dalhousie University Tigers) and Corey Chester of British Columbia (University of Victoria Vikes).
UBC-Okanagan Heat, as co-host, will be skipped by Justin Nillson (third Colton Costa, second Lucas Cooke, lead Cameron Mahler).
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