FINAL CIS CCA curling championship: Memorial men, Laurier women capture CIS Gold

Source: Memorial Sports Info

ST. JOHNS, Nfld. - The Memorial University Sea Hawks team of skip Colin Thomas, third Cory Schuh, second Chris Ford, lead Spencer  Wicks, fifth Stephen Ryan, and coach Toby McDonald this afternoon  won the Dominion Insurance CCA/CIS Championship Final 7-6 over a fine University of Manitoba Bisons team at the  RE/MAX Centre in St. John's.

A large gallery of supporters saw the Sea Hawks out to a 6-2 lead and hang on against the Manitoba foursome. They earned the right to represent Canada in a prestigious bonspiel in  Karuizawa, Japan in January 2012.
 
On the women's side the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (skip Laura  Crocker, third Sarah Wilkes, second Jen Gates, lead Cheryl Kreviazuk, fifth  Pam Feldkamp, and coach Maurice Wilson) outlasted Brock Badgers 7-4 and they  showed a great deal of excitement in bringing home the CIS championship  banner and the opportunity to "wear the maple leaf" in the Japanese venue where Sandra Schmirler won Olympic Gold.
 
The  Linescores and Highlights for the  Finals were:

WOMEN'S FINAL
 
Wilfrid Laurier Golden  Hawks*    010  111  030  x  =   7
Brock Badgers                               001   000  201  x  =  4

The trading of singles in ends 2,  3 and 4 were not without excitement.   Laurier's point in  the 2nd came from a hit and roll to a freeze position on the pin; Brock's point in the 3rd could have been a pair had they not lost a measure, and  Laurier's single (for a 2-1 lead) in the 4th required a draw to a piece of the  button against 3.
 
Laurier upped the lead to 4-1 with steals of  singles in the 5th and 6th ends; the first on a crash of a guard with hammer  on an attempted tap-back for 2, and the second on an angle outturn raise  takeout for 2 that hit shot rock but moved it just 2 feet when it needed to  move it 6 feet.
 
END 7:  the Golden Hawks continued to press. Brock skip Courtney Hodgson (in  her last year of study) had to make a triple takeout with her first stone  before drawing for 2 with her second (4-3).

END 8:    A draw  for 3 in this end was decisive; Courtney's first rock hit attempt picked up  debris and missed, and her second stone was a very difficult double takeout  attempt (7-3).

END 9:    Brock  defended nicely and forced a single on a draw (7-4).

END 10:   The last Brock rock was a long  runback in an attempt to lie 3, but it overcurled and Wilfred Laurier did not  have to throw their hammer for the win.
 

MEN FINAL

Manitoba  Bisons*         010   101  011  1  =  6
Memorial Sea  Hawks    102   030  100  0  =  7

The Memorial Sea Hawks were not so lucky as being  able to avoid throwing hammer in the final end, despite holding leads  of 6-2 and 7-3.   With the score 1-1 in the 3rd end, the Sea  Hawks forced an early break.   Memorial was guarding a single stone  all end; the Bison's last stone draw was long and skip Colin Thomas drew for 2  and a 3-1 lead.    It was a more difficult shot than his  eventual draw to win (which almost sailed through the circles).
 
END 4:     Manitoba skip James Coleman rolled out on a hit for 2 (3-2)

END 5:    In the  biggest end of the afternoon (in more ways than one), there were 6 guarded  rocks in the front quadrant of the rings when Thomas with his first stone came  up a couple of inches short on a double-tap to lie 2.   Manitoba  blasted the pack and lay second shot on the T-line, full 8-foot, partially  exposed.   Thomas then made the full-weight chip-out for a  commanding 6-2 lead at the 5th end break.

END 6:     Coleman, hitting against 4, "saved the farm" by making a high-weight double  takeout of two stones frozen on the button (6-3).
 
END 7:    Thamas  was left with a tap-back for 2 but cleared the guard by too much (down  the same path as end #5) for a single (7-3).

END 8:    Coleman  crashed on his first rock.   Sea Hawks guarded two rocks biting the  button not knowing who was shot.   Coleman was light needing to draw  3 inches of the button, but the Bisons got a single on a measure  (7-4)

END 9:    -   Sea Hawks third Cory Schuh hit and rolled in the 4-foot circle to lie  2,
-  Coleman's first was an outturn  draw to lie second shot in a dangerous position,
-  Thomas guarded Manitoba's raise  possibility,
-  Coleman made a circus angle  raise double takeout intending to lie 3 but got 1 & 2 buried out of  it,
-  Thomas executed a raise takeout  to get one of the Manitoba counters (7-5).

END 10:    The  Sea Hawks faced trouble from second stones until last rock.   After  a Time Out, Coleman elected to freeze or quietly tap his guarded stone on  the top of the 4-foot circle, but it was a little heavy and rubbed  open.
-  A potentially game winning  double takeout attempt by Thomas overcurled and rolled from the  rings.
-  Coleman had the same shot  but was heavy again and he was fortunate to hang half in the back of the  12-foot circle.
-  Thomas, with hammer, could draw  anywhere in the rings for the win.   Following the same line as  Coleman (and unfortunately the same weight) sweepers did not touch the outturn  and it also hung in the back of the 12-foot outcounting the last Bison's throw  by a couple inches.