The Carleton Ravens women’s curling team won silver at the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Curling Championships Feb. 13-17.
The Ravens lost 4-3 to the Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks in the gold-medal match.
The teams were tied through the first five ends of play, however the Ravens took a 3-2 lead in the sixth.
The Golden Hawks tied it up in the seventh and eventually won the match in the eighth end, with the final stone.
The second-place finish allows the Ravens to move on to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) championships March 19-23 in Regina.
“It is really exciting,” Ravens head coach Doug Kreviazuk said. “The last two years the boys have qualified so the girls were very determined this year and nothing was going to get in their way of qualifying.”
This is the first time the Ravens women’s team has qualified for the CIS championships since the team’s inception three years ago.
“We fully expected to be in the top two this year. We looked at the other teams and there are some good curlers out there but we had full confidence that the team we put together this year would have a fighting chance in coming either first or second,” he said.
In order to prepare for nationals, Kreviazuk said the team doesn’t need to change what they are doing right now.
“It is really just about getting the girls throwing together,” he said. “All four girls play a lot and throw a lot but we just need to be able to get together and build on that dynamic.”
Lynn Kreviazuk, who is in her fifth and final year at Carleton, is the team’s second. She said she is excited to be moving on to the CIS championships.
“This is something that our team has been working towards for three years and we came so close last year, so finally clinching a berth this year was awesome, a really great feeling,” she said.
The Ravens weren’t the only team to feature a Kreviazuk at the tournament, as Lynn’s sister Cheryl Kreviazuk was curling for the Golden Hawks.
“I was very happy for her but at the same time it was a little bittersweet because we did come back with the silver,” Lynn said.
Lynn said she is going to treat the upcoming championships just like any other tournament.
“It is the same preparation for every other tournament,” she said. “You just need to make sure you are going out and throwing a lot of rocks and keeping up with your gym routine, the only difference is we will be meeting up as a team a lot more to prepare for the tournament.”
