Gryphon men third in OUA curling championships
GUELPH – Scoring points in each of the first three ends, the Guelph Gryphons started on their way to a 6-5 edging of the Toronto Varsity Blues in the bronze-medal match of the OUA men’s curling championship tournament Sunday at the Guelph Curling Club.
While the Gryphs never trailed in the match, the Varsity Blues pulled even with three in the fourth end before Guelph restored its three-point lead with two in the fifth and one in the sixth. Toronto narrowed the gap to the final score by taking one in the seventh and stealing one in the eighth.
Members of the Gryphon squad were skip Jayden King, vice Dylan Niepage, second Gavin Lydiate and lead Dan Del Conte. Lydiate was named a first-team all-star while Del Conte was named to the second team.
The Laurier Golden Hawks doubled the Brock Badgers 6-3 in the men’s gold-medal match. The Golden Hawks rallied from a 3-0 deficit for the win by scoring points in four consecutive ends.
The Laurentian Voyageurs hit for back-to-back three-point ends as they won the women’s gold-medal match 7-6 over the McMaster Marauders.
Waterloo Warriors scored three in an extra end to top the Queen’s Gaels 9-6 in the women’s bronze-medal match.
The Gryphon men had lost 5-3 to Brock in the men’s semifinals after beating the Carleton Ravens 6-2 in the quarter-finals.
The Gryphon women were knocked out of the tournament with a 3-2 loss to Waterloo in the quarter-finals, the Warriors scoring the winning point in an extra end. Waterloo had scored one in the fourth and stolen one in the fifth before the Gryphs came back with one in the sixth and one in the eighth to force the extra end.
The Gryphon women’s rink consisted of skip Jillian Uniacke, vice Abby Parkinson, second Liana Flanagan and lead Monica Tanguay.
The Gryphon men finished atop pool B in regulation play with a 3-1 record. York Lions and Waterloo were tied for second at 2-2 while Windsor Lancers were fourth at 1-3.
The Gryphon women finished in a three-way tie for first in pool C with Laurentian and Brock as each had 2-2 records. Ontario Tech Ridgebacks were fourth at 1-3.
In preliminary play, the Gryphon men and the other teams in Pool B played each of the teams in Pool A. The Gryphs lost 6-4 to Laurier, downed Toronto Metropolitan Bold 7-2, edged Carleton 6-5 and dropped Algoma Thunderbirds 10-1. Laurier finished first in Pool A at 4-0 while Carleton was at 3-1, TMU was at 1-3 and Algoma was at 0-4.
The Gryphon women and the Pool C teams played the teams in Pool D in the preliminary round. The Gryphs downed Carleton 11-2, dropped Windsor 8-1, lost 6-4 to TMU and fell 8-3 to Waterloo. Waterloo and TMU were both 4-0 in Pool D while Carleton was 1-3 and Windsor was 0-4.
With their third-place finish, the Gryphon men advance to the U Sports/Curling Canada University Curling Championships in Fredericton, NB, March 12 to 16.
- Guelph Sports Journal