While the men’s basketball team tends to steal the spotlight, Carleton will also be represented at the national level by the newly created men’s curling team.
Less than a year old, the team picked up a silver medal at the provincial playdowns in February and is off to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) nationals March 14-18 in Welland, Ont.
“We’re a pretty new program, and just being there is an accomplishment,” said Ravens head coach Art Miskew.
The team earned a ticket to the CIS nationals after finishing second at the Ontario University Athletics championship in Guelph last month. Carleton’s women’s curling team went 3-3 in the round robin, one win away from securing a playoff spot.
After winning four of their six round robin games, the men’s team defeated the University of Western 5-2 in the semifinals, securing them the chance to fight for the gold and a spot at nationals.
“It was tough to get through,” Miskew said, who noted that Carleton fielded one of the youngest teams at the tournament. “They weren’t one of the favourites.”
The team lost to the Waterloo Warriors in the gold medal game, a hard-fought bout that saw University of Waterloo skip Jake Walker narrowly edge out Carleton by a score of 3-2.
“We were all really happy, because when we won the semis we knew we were going to CIS [nationals],” said skip Chris Lewis.
The second-year software engineering student said nationals will present a whole new challenge, as the Carleton squad is used to competing in Ontario and isn’t familiar with the opponents they’ll play from across the country.
Carleton will open the tournament against the University of Alberta Golden Bears, who won the world junior men’s championship March 11 in Sweden.
“It’s going to be a tough first game,” Miskew said.
As competitive clubs, Carleton’s new curling teams have been entirely self-funded, with the players paying their own way.
Now that the men’s team is heading to nationals, the university has helped cover the cost of the team’s entry fees and accommodation, according to Bob Rumscheidt, manager of interuniversity programs with Carleton’s department of recreation and athletics.
But Rumscheidt said the team will remain self-funded next year, though with the support of other organizations.
“A lot of it is driven by them,” Rumscheidt said. “Part of the whole key to success was they had a really good partnership with the Rideau Curling Club.”
“It’s been a great first year,” said Kevin Goheen, a sessional engineering instructor at Carleton who helped organize the team and arranged for ice time at the Rideau Curling Club, where he sits on the board.
The Ottawa Valley Curling Association also put $500 towards the men’s team, Goheen said — a standard stipend for Ottawa teams who have made it to the national level.
Regardless of how the team fares this weekend, Miskew is already thinking ahead.
In the coming years, the coach said he’d like to encourage more curlers to come out, with the aim of setting up recreational games and even setting up a second team to help train future champions.
