The Niagara Knights women's curling team will wrap up the 2015-16 varsity season this week at the CCAA National Championship. Hosted by Fanshawe College in London the Knights have their sights set on one thing – gold.
Niagara enters the tournament after over a month off after finishing fourth at the OCAA Championship in Thunder Bay. It was a heartbreaking Valentine's Day on the ice for the Knights at the event. They opened the day with a 7-3 loss to the eventual champion Seneca Sting, setting up a date with the host Confederation Thunderhawks in the bronze medal match. Niagara lost a nail-biter 7-6 in extra ends to deny them the bronze medal. However, the fourth place finished was enough to qualify for the CCAA Championship event.
The Knights are led by a pair of OCAA All-Stars. Skip Megan Droog (Harriston) and second Samantha Lees (St. Thomas) were both named OCAA Second-Team All-Stars at the OCAA championship on Thunder Bay. As described by her coach, Droog is a tremendous decision maker and understands how to call a strong game. Similarly Lees has a steady work ethic who is relied on from the first rock through to the last. The pair are flanked by vice Allison Mondloch (St. Catharines), team lead Bronte Chin (Scarborough), and alternate Danika Thompson (Perth).
The Knights join seven other teams vying to capture a national championship, including three of their Ontario adversaries. The defending champion Fanshawe Falcons, OCAA Champion Seneca Sting, and OCAA bronze medalist Confederation Thunderhawks will compete alongside the Knights in London. At the OCAA Championship in February, Niagara was unable to break through against any of the three rinks, with those teams accounting for all of their losses at the event. It will be a tough challenge, but Head Coach Jordan Thin is confident that his group has taken strides forward leading into the event.
Having not competed since the OCAA Championship in February, the long break may be just what the Knights needed to re-group and re-energize before vying for the national title. Thin, who was named the OCAA Coach of the Year last month, believes that the additional weeks of preparation will prove to be beneficial for this team. "We have been fine tuning and I think we'll see the best version of this team this weekend," Thin said about his team's preparations, "We are all confident that we have the ability to win gold."
The four Ontario rinks will be joined at the championship by the MacEwan Griffins, Red Deer Queens, NAIT Ooks, and Holland Hurricanes. The Championship kicks off on Wednesday, March 23 at 8:00am when the Knights open against the host Falcons. Niagara will have one match-up against each of the other five opponents to complete a seven game round robin. Tiebreaking games will follow, if necessary, with the top four teams will advaning to the semi-finals on Saturday, March 26 to compete for the medals.
The championship schedule, standings, photos and any other information pertaining the event can be found at www.ccaa.ca/curling-championship. You can also follow along with the action on Twitter by following @NC_Knights and @CCAAsportsACSC.
Niagara Knights Schedule
March 23 8:00am v. Fanshawe Falcons
March 23 11:30am v. Red Deer Queens
March 24 8:00am v. MacEwan Griffins
March 24 12:00pm v. Confederation Thunderhawks
March 24 4:00pm v. NAIT Ooks
March 25 8:00am v. Seneca Sting
March 25 4:00pm v. Holland Hurricanes
