For the first time in school history, Memorial University is U Sports women’s curling champions.
The team defeated the McMaster Marauders 5-4 in a game that came down to inches.
Memorial started the championship game with hammer, opting to blank the first end, before picking up two points in the second end.
McMaster picked up one point in the third, and stole two points in the fourth, taking a 3-2 lead, resulting in Memorial chasing the game from behind.
The Sea-Hawks were forced to one point in the fifth, tying the game back up, before the Marauders were also forced to one in the sixth, taking a 4-3 lead.
Memorial would enter the seventh end with the hammer down by one, and were forced to only a single point by McMaster, meaning they would enter the eighth and final end tied 4-4 without the hammer, which is not an ideal situation.
McMaster’s final shot of the game rolled slightly too far off what they had anticipated, forcing the officials to measure the distance between Memorial’s and McMaster’s rocks, where it was determined that Memorial had shot rock, meaning the team stole the final end for the win.
After the game, Brad Gushue, whose daughter Hayley was third on the team, tweeted this:
Also on the team is Skip Cailey Locke, Second Emily Neary, Lead Sitaye Penney, and Coach Jeff Thomas.
The team will represent Canada at the World University Games in China in January 2027.
Men’s team comes in fourth
It was the second year in a row that Team Simon Perry earned the opportunity to represent MUN at the U Sports championship.
Last year, they took home bronze for the university. This year, they once again got the opportunity to play for a bronze medal, as they faced off against the University of Alberta, unfortunately losing 6-3.