Brock, Welland Curling Club to host 2012 CIS/CCA championships

OTTAWA (CCA) - The Canadian Curling Association (CCA) and Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Thursday announced that the 2012 CIS/CCA University Curling Championships, presented by The Dominion, will be played at the Welland Curling Club in Welland, Ontario, March 14-18.

Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont., will act as the host for the championships, which bring together eight men’s and eight women’s teams competing for Canadian university titles.  The eight teams of each gender consist of two each from the Atlantic Region, Ontario and Canada West and one each from Quebec and host Brock University. After the round robin, the first place teams advance directly to their respective finals, while the second and third place teams meet in semi-finals.  

The winning teams will then represent Canada the following year at the 2013 FISU Winter Universiade in Maribor, Slovenia, January 30 - February 9.

Last season, the 2011 CIS/CCA University Championships were held in St. John’s, Nfld.  The men’s event was taken by the host Memorial University Sea-Hawks, skipped by Colin Thomas, who defeated the Manitoba Bisons (skip James Coleman) 7-6 in the final.  The women’s title went to the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks of Waterloo, skipped by Laura Crocker, who defeated the Brock Badgers (skip Courtney Hodgson) 7-4 in the final. The winners will now represent Canada at Japan’s Karuizawa Invitational, January 25-29, 2012.

The CCA and CIS have been partners in the promotion and staging of the Canadian University Curling Championships since 2008.

“Brock has hosted several CIS championships in the past and they always do a great job,” said Marg McGregor, chief executive officer of CIS. “The CCA is also a best-in-class event organizer so this promises to be a fantastic championship. It will be an exciting high stakes event with the champions winning their tickets to the Winter Universiade.”

With today’s announcement, the 2011-12 CCA championship curling calendar in Canada is as follows:

Canadian Mixed, November 12-19 in Sudbury, Ont.; Canada Cup, November 30-December 4 in Cranbrook, B.C.; World Financial Group (WFG) Continental Cup, January 12-15 in Langley, B.C.; M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors, February 4-12 in Napanee, Ont.; Scotties Tournament of Hearts,  February 18-26 in Red Deer, Alta.; Tim Hortons Brier, March 3-11 in Saskatoon, Sask.; CIS/CCA University Championships, March 14-18 in Welland, Ont.; WFG Canadian Seniors, March 17-24 in Abbotsford, B.C., and Ford World Women’s, March 17-25 in Lethbridge, Alta.

- CIS -