Posted by Sudbury Northern Life 
The Laurentian Voyageurs and Lady Vees curling rinks completed their first ever OUA tournament as an official varsity sport over the weekend, and although results were not as they would have hoped for, they were competitive in every game.
The women's rink posted a 2-1 record over the two day event held in Kitchener, Ontario on Jan. 17-18, while the men were a disappointing 0-3.
The women's team consisting of Kim Curtin (Lindsay, Ont.), Jenny Gates (Sudbury, Ont.), Amanda Gates (Sudbury), Vanessa Maloney (Sudbury) Renn James (Kleinburg, Ont.) and Joelle Boulanger (Mattawa, Ont.) routed the University of Toronto rink its opener 11-2, playing only five of a scheduled eight ends on Saturday afternoon.
In a quick turnaround, the Lady Vees were back on the ice Saturday night as they faced the Trent Excalibur. The Lady Vees shuffled their line-up around in order to allow everyone to be potentially eligible for the OUA Championships.
Unfortunately the shuffle didn't work as the Laurentian was on the short end of an 8-3 score. Sunday morning was the third game in less than 24 hours for the Laurentian curlers. It was a match they controlled from the get-go and came out on top of the Queen's Gaels 8-3 in seven ends.
On the men's side, the Voyageurs were part of three nail bitters, coming up short in each game. The rink which consisted of Ian Dickie (Bracebridge, Ont.), Ryan Lafraniere (Sudbury), Tyler Stewart (Timmins, Ont.), Matthew Mann (Renfrew, Ont.), and Thomas Matheson (Listowel, Ont.) fell in an extra end, 6-5, to the University of Toronto Blues on Saturday afternoon.
They followed that up with an 8-3 loss to Trent on Saturday night, a game the score does not do justice as it came down to the final rock. Sunday morning the Queen's Gaels got the better of the Voyageurs by a final of 9-6, again on the final stone.
"Despite the records, Laurentian performed well, we were competitive in every game," said head coach Jan Pula in a release. "One break in any of the games and the men could have been 3-0, they really battled hard. The women's rink has a bit of an advantage as three of the team members have played together for more than three years."
The Laurentian curlers will return to the Idylwylde Golf and Country Club to fine tune before they head to St. Catharine's, Ontario to play in the OUA Crossovers, hosted by Brock from Jan. 30 to Feb. 1.
