The 2016 SUBWAY AUS Curling Championship will be held from February 18-21 at the Highlander Curling Club in the St. Andrews/Antigonish, NS area. St. FX, the host university, is excited to host the biggest Atlantic championship event to date, with 14 teams competing. There are 8 women’s teams (MUN, UPEI, DAL, SMU, ACADIA, ST. FX, UNB, MOUNT ALLISON) and 6 men’s rinks (MUN, DAL, SMU, ACADIA, ST. FX, UNB). Both the men and women will be competing for two spots each to represent the AUS at the CIS Championship, March 20-23 in Kelowna BC.
The University of Prince Edward Island is once again represented by the rink of Veronica Smith (skip), Jane DiCarlo (third), Emily Gray (2nd), and Aleya Quilty (lead), with coach Paul Smith.
Other Islanders in the event are Lauren MacFadyen and Carolyn Rose on Team St. FX Women, and Alex Sutherland on Team UNB Men.
Last year, the Saint Mary’s Huskies women and UNB Varsity Reds men claimed their respective AUS banners at the Montague Curling Club in Montague, PEI.
Photo: Team UNB Men, skipped by Josh Barry (left). PEI native Alex Sutherland is 4th from left.
In the women’s final, the Huskies faced the host UPEI Panthers who had defeated the StFX X-Women by a score of 7-2 in semifinal play earlier in the day to advance to the final.
Saint Mary’s, skipped by Sara Spafford, jumped out to an early lead and held a 4-1 advantage at the fifth end break. Veronica Smith and her UPEI squad rebounded with a deuce in the sixth end and added a steal of one in the seventh to even the score at 4-4 with three ends to play.
Spafford and the Huskies managed to grab two points with the hammer in the eighth end and after exchanging singles in the final two ends, went on to post a 7-5 win and claim the 2015 Subway AUS women’s curling title, with both the SMU and UPEI teams advancing to the CIS championships – Team UPEI’s third straight CIS berth.
Team UPEI finished in 4th place at last year’s nationals, also receiving two individual awards, with third Jane DiCarlo selected CIS 2nd Team All-Canadian, for having the 2nd highest combination of shooting percentages and plus-minus among thirds in women’s round robin play, and lead Aleya Quilty winning the women’s R.W. Pugh Fair Play and Sportsmanship Award.
Click for the 2016 Subway AUS Curling Championship Draw, the 2016 Subway AUS Curling Championship Teams and for the 2016 Subway AUS Curling Championship Rules.
(with info from CurlAtlantic.com and AtlanticUniversitySport.com)