Carleton men upset defending champs, Dalhousie women walk off AUS title rematch in extras
The Carleton Ravens men and Dalhousie Tigers women both triumphed in extra ends Monday evening, on the opening day of the 2025 U SPORTS / Curling Canada Championships at the Lethbridge Curling Club.
Facing the defending U SPORTS champion Regina Cougars, the OUA gold-medalist Ravens came out on top in an exciting battle of conference title-holders. Down 4-1 at the fourth-end break, the Ravens scored a pair in the fifth and then stole back-to-back ends in the eighth and ninth, to complete the 5-4 comeback.
“Early on, we made lots of shots,” said Cougars skip Joshua Bryden, who represented Team Canada at the 2025 FISU Winter World University Games last month in Torino, Italy – finishing in fourth place. “The team played great even throughout the last few ends. It’s just when you miss your last four shots as a skip, it’s tough to win a curling game. But we learned a lot out there tonight and hopefully we can take that forward.”
Also in men’s action, the OUA finalist Laurier Golden Hawks – who have won two of the last three national titles – scored five in the seventh to break a 5-5 deadlock with the AUS runner-up UNB REDS for a 10-5 win.
Meanwhile, the AUS champion Memorial Sea-Hawks tallied three in the first and fifth, to seal a 7-4 win over the host Lethbridge Pronghorns. Finally, the CW silver medalist Calgary Dinos scored two in fourth and stole another pair in the fifth before adding four in the seventh, for an 8-3 win over the OUA bronze medalist Brock Badgers.
On the women’s side, a thrilling back-and-forth AUS championship rematch featured the Dalhousie Tigers and StFX, where the X-Women rallied with a pair in the eighth to tie the game at four, before Tigers skip Ally MacNutt delivered the deciding point in the extra end.
“We played the extra end really great, and I think we just tried to keep it simple and that was working for us,” said MacNutt. “So we stuck with that (approach) and we were able to pull it out.”
In other women’s action, a pair of additional conference matchups highlighted the opening day of competition.
After trailing 2-1 at the break, the OUA champion McMaster Marauders scored seven unanswered points, stealing one in sixth and another four in the seventh to beat the OUA bronze medalist Guelph Gryphons 8-2.
“We had a rocky first couple ends. I think we were just a little tense, a little nervous for our first game on the ice,” said McMaster skip Maggie Fitzgerald, who throws second. “But once we settled in and got a feeling for what the ice was doing, we picked it back up.”
Elsewhere, the Regina Cougars women scored three in the first and three more in the fifth en route to an 8-2 victory over host Lethbridge, who are making their debut appearance at the Championship, which began in 2008. And Laurier also cruised to an opening night win, stealing three in the third and one in the seventh to beat the Thompson Rivers WolfPack 7-2.
The U SPORTS / Curling Canada Championships continue on Tuesday morning, beginning with the first of four draws at 10:30 am ET / 8:30 am MT.
TEAM STANDINGS
Men
Memorial 1-0
Calgary 1-0
Carleton 1-0
Laurier 1-0
UNB 0-1
Regina 0-1
Brock 0-1
Lethbridge 0-1
Women
Dalhousie 1-0
Laurier 1-0
Regina 1-0
McMaster 1-0
StFX 0-1
Guelph 0-1
Thompson River 0-1
Lethbridge 0-1