Humber Curling Captures Two Titles, Four Medals at OCAA Championship
PETERBOROUGH - Humber curling left the 2020 OCAA Championships Sunday afternoon with two provincial titles, a silver medal, and a bronze medal. It was Humber's best finish at provincials since the squad made history and swept the podium in all three disciplines in 2017.
The women's team captured the program's third provincial title, defeating the Sault Cougars 6-3. After rolling through the tournament, the Hawks began slowly against Sault and found themselves trailing after five ends, 2-1. Humber responded in the sixth, dropping a five-spot on the Cougars to seal the win.
The men's team found themselves in a tough battle with Mohawk, exchanging points over the first three frames. Trailing by two in the sixth, Humber responded with three points to take the lead for the first time since the first frame. Mohawk countered with two in the seventh, putting pressure on the Hawks in the final end. Mohawk had a chance to steal the win but two-sport athlete Zack Shurtleff made a brilliant chip and roll to give the Hawks a chance to force extra ends. With the hammer, Shurtleff curled the final stone into the house to seal the come-from-behind victory for Humber.
Humber 1 mixed doubles had a chance to redeem its round-robin loss to Niagara 1, meeting the Knights in the finals. Both teams exchanged points for the first six frames before the Knights scored two in the seventh. Brendan Jackson and Jenna Clarke responded in the final frame, using the hammer to score two to force an extra end. The Knights went on to score three and the Hawks won the inaugural OCAA mixed doubles silver medal.
Humber 2 mixed doubles made quick work of Niagara 2 in the bronze medal match. The Hawks - comprised of Davis Wiscombe and Mikayla Ottogalli - only needed five frames to defeat the Knights, 10-1, to win the OCAA bronze medal.
At the awards banquet following the tournament, the OCAA introduced tournament MVP's for the first time. The Hawks swept the titles and had seven players receive all-tournament honours.
Tournament MVP
Women's - Kaitlyn Jones
Men's - Zack Shurtleff
Mixed Doubles - Brendan Jackson
All-Tournament Team
Women's
First Team - Brittany Elson, Kaitlyn Jones
Men's
First Team - Zack Shurtleff, Brady Lumley, Matthew Garner
Mixed
First Team - Jenna Clarke, Brendan Jackson
Second Team - Davis Wiscombe
What's Next?
Humber curling will head to Portage la Prairie, Manitoba to compete in the 2020 CCAA National Championship, Mar. 11 to 15.
