Curling teams have golden year

This season was one full of hardware for Laurier’s curling teams.

First, both the men’s and women’s teams won gold medals at the Ontario University Athletics championships. This marked the second-straight year and third time in school history that the Golden Hawks swept the provincial titles.

Then at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport finals, the men’s squad, led by skip Aaron Squires, came away with the second national title in team history, avenging a gold-medal-game loss in 2015. The men’s team was dominant at nationals, losing only once to the Alberta Golden Bears, the team they would go on to beat in the championship game.

Squires was named a first-team All-Canadian for the third consecutive year, while his teammates Richard Krell and Spencer Nuttall were named second-team All-Canadians. With the win, the squad, comprised of Squires, Krell, Nuttall, Fraser Reid and Russell Cuddie, earned the right uo represent Canada at the 2017 Winter University Games in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The provincial title for the women’s team, led by skip Chelsea Brandwood, gives the squad nine OUA gold medals, which puts them third among Laurier teams in all-time OUA titles won. At nationals, the women’s team was eliminated before the medal round.