Banner Season: Voyageurs, Golden Hawks bring home bragging rights at first winter championships

Guelph, Ont. (via Guelph Gryphons) – The 2024 OUA curling season officially culminated on Sunday evening (February 4) at the Guelph Curling Club, where the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (men’s) and the Laurentian Voyageurs (women’s) took home provincial bragging rights.

The three-day conference championship event saw a total of 16 universities from across the province compete on both the men’s and women’s sides, with the top three schools earning a spot at the 2024 U SPORTS/Curling Canada Curling Championships, March 12-16 in Fredericton, New Brunswick. On the women’s side, Laurentian (gold), McMaster (silver) and Waterloo (bronze) all booked a spot at nationals in March, while on the men’s side, Laurier (gold), Brock (silver) and Guelph (bronze) all punched their tickets to New Brunswick.

The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks men’s curling team, made up of skip Sam Mooibroek, third Kibo Mulima, second Wyatt Small and lead Ben Pearce, added yet another OUA banner to the Golden Hawks curling dynasty, successfully defended their OUA title in impressive fashion, scoring six unanswered points to win Sunday evening’s OUA gold medal game, 6-3 over the Brock Badgers. For the Golden Hawks, the victory marked their fourth consecutive OUA banner, and 13th OUA title in program history.

“It’s really exciting. The guys kind of put me on their back a little, but we got the job done,” said Laurier skip, Sam Mooibroek, who has played a key role in helping Laurier go undefeated at each of the past three OUA Curling Championships. “The goal coming in was to qualify for U SPORTS, but we don’t like losing very much, so it is fun to get the win. Now the goal will be to try to qualify for Italy next year, but every step of the way we have been proving to ourselves that we can do whatever we put our minds to.” Laurier will now look to defend their national title in Fredericton, after also claiming U SPORTS gold a season ago.

On the women’s side, the Laurentian Voyageurs were able to edge the defending OUA champion McMaster Marauders, 7-6, in the women’s gold medal game. The Voyageurs scored 3 in the 2nd end and 3 more in the 3rd end to jump out to a commanding lead, before holding off a valiant comeback effort by the reigning OUA champion Marauders. For the Voyageurs, the victory marks their second OUA title in program history, and first since 2017.

“The women certainly showed resiliency from the start to the finish,” said Laurentian women’s curling head coach, Ryan Lafraniere. “They were determined, they were intense, they were able to come through when they needed to. Just very proud of them.” The Voyageurs rink of skip Bella Croisier, vice Piper Croisier, second Mya Smith and lead Julia DeKlein will now head to Atlantic Canada in mid-March to compete for the right to represent Canada at the FISU games in Italy. “Having finished second last year, finishing first this year is a truly amazing feeling,” said Voyageurs skip, Bella Croisier. “I’m so proud of my team and could not have done it without all the support of my teammates, coaches and everyone at the university.”

OUA Women’s Curling Coach of the Year - Taylor Weber, Waterloo

Women’s Curling – OUA First Team All-Stars
Skip - Celia Evans, Waterloo
Vice - Michaela Robert, Queen’s 
Second - Kayla Gordon, Queen’s 
Lead - Sadie McCutcheon, Queen’s 

Women’s Curling – OUA Second Team All-Stars 
Skip - Julia Markle, Brock 
Vice - Evelyn Robert, McMaster
Second - Clara Dissanayake, McMaster
Lead - Emma McKenzie, Wilfrid Laurier

OUA Men’s Curling Coach of the Year - Jordan Thin, Brock 

Men’s Curling – OUA First Team All-Stars
Skip - Chris Inglis, Trent 
Vice - Victor Pietrangelo, Brock 
Second - Gavin Lydiate, Guelph 
Lead - Patrick Sipura, Brock 

Men’s Curling – OUA Second Team All-Stars 
Skip - Daniel Hocevar, Toronto  
Vice - Landon Rooney, Toronto 
Second - Grant Schnurr, Queen’s 
Lead - Daniel Del Conte, Guelph