HAWKS MEN WIN FIRST CCAA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
March 26, 2016
LONDON, ON: The Humber Hawks men's curling team defeated Sault College 8-4 to win the 2016 CCAA National Men's Curling Championship. This is the curling program's first ever CCAA title, the sixth this year by Hawks varsity teams, and 36th overall national crown. The Hawks women had won silver in each of the last two years.
The road to the National title started with pool play, as the Hawks went 5-2 to clinch a spot in the medal round. Interestingly enough, it was the Sault Cougars that knocked them off in the last game of pool play, therefore gaining direct entrance to the gold medal game.
In the semi final game, the Hawks faced Augustana of the ACAC (Alberta). The Vikings had won back to back tie-breaker games to get to the semi. In this match, it was Humber that struck first, as they led early 1-0. Augustana looked to put the match out of reach early, as they responded with a four-spot. Fighting all the way back, the Hawks tied the match at six heading into the last end.
With the hammer, it looked like the Vikings would control the end and win the match. Humber placed a number of stones in play, thus forcing the Vikings skip to make a clean shot to win. He made a good shot, but the rock just glanced off the Humber stone and out of the scoring zone. Hawks win and head to the gold medal game, while Augustana grabbed bronze.
The gold game saw both teams playing nervously early, with both teams unable to capitalize on open opportunities. As the fifth end came and went, the teams were deadlocked at two. The game changers came in two of the next three ends. The Hawks scored three in the sixth and then stole three more in the eighth. Sault did respond with two in the ninth, but Humber just ran the Cougars out of rocks in the tenth.
