CUE Women and Humber Men win the 2024 CCAA Curling Championships
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National Championship Matches The Concordia Thunder women curlers and Humber Hawks men’s team are the 2024 CCAA Curling Canada Champions. In a perfect cap to the championship, all four medal matches went the distance. The Thunder claimed the CCAA crown in an act of retribution, having lost the ACAC gold to the SAIT Trojans. It was evident that these teams knew each other well, opening the contest with a cautious blank end. SAIT recorded a single in the second, but CUE earned a pair in back-to-back ends, giving them an early lead. SAIT chipped away and drew even with the Thunder in the eighth. Concordia went up one heading into the final end and set themselves up for a steal of two, claiming the gold with an 8-5 win. This is the first CCAA Women’s Curling Gold for CUE, but it completes the medal collection alongside the program’s Silver in 2017 and Bronze from last season. The men’s championship contest was a rematch featuring the OCAA’s top two squads, the Mohawk Mountaineers and Humber Hawks. Like the women’s side, the Mountaineers were the Conference Champions, but Humber took home national gold. At the midway point Humber led 4-1 but Mohawk outscored the Hawks 5-2 over the next four to tie the match up heading into the final end. Humber persevered with a house clearing hammer stone, earning the gold with a 7-6 victory. The win marked the second straight CCAA Men’s Curling National Championship for Humber and their third since 2016.
Bronze Medal Matches On the Bronze side of the Bracket, the Humber women and SAIT men captured the final spots on the 2024 CCAA Curling Canada Championship podiums. The Humber Hawks flew out to an early lead against the Augustana Vikings, up 2-0 after two and 4-1 after five. With a blank in the sixth it started to look like Augustana might run out of opportunities to get back in this one. That was not the case though as the Vikings pulled within two with one to play. Needing a steal of two to force extra ends, the defending champs could only muster a single, and the Hawks hung on 6-5 to claim back-to-back bronze medals. The 2024 men’s curling battle for bronze was just the latest chapter in the storied rivalry between the SAIT Trojans and NAIT Ooks. This one also came down to the final end, with the teams exchanging the lead five times before entering the tenth tied at five. The Trojans held the hammer and set themselves up for the win, earning three points to claim the match and bronze with an 8-5 win.
Semi-final Matches Despite suffering their first losses of the tournament in the final Draws of round-robin play, the Mohawk Men and SAIT Women came out firing on all cylinders in the semi-finals. The Trojans shocked the defending champions from Augustana with five points in the opening end followed immediately by a steal of three. The Vikings gathered themselves and went on a run, winning three straight ends to cut the Trojans’ lead in half. SAIT then recorded another three points and Augustana eventually conceded the match to the Trojans, 12-5. The Mohawk men also came out firing, scoring three in the first end and stealing singles in the third and fourth. NAIT got one back, but the Mountaineers went on the offensive again claiming five points over the next two ends. NAIT put another pair on the board, but Mohawk punched their ticket to the final with a 10-3 victory. The other women’s semi-final, featuring Concordia and Humber, was a much closer affair. The Thunder recorded two in the first, but the match went back and forth, and the Hawks tied the match up in the sixth with a steal. They continued to trade ends through the ninth, but CUE scored two in the seventh which gave them some breathing room entering the final frame. It wouldn’t matter though as the Thunder were able to steal a point in the tenth and lock up the match 7-4. The fourth semi-final of the morning featured the men’s teams from Humber and SAIT looking to earn the final spot in championship match. The Trojans were first on the board, but the Hawks soared through the next three ends, earning six points along the way. SAIT mustered up a pair of points a couple of times, but Humber always answered back with two of their own, resulting in a 10-5 win for the Hawks.
Awards The top female and male performers were honoured following the competition during the Championship Victory Banquet.
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