Fanshawe's curling team to host national championships

Header image for Interrobang article CREDIT: FANSHAWE VARSITY ATHLETICS
Fanshawe's curling team will host the OCAA Provincial Championships in March.

Just over a month into the 2016 season, the Fanshawe Falcons men’s and women’s curling teams have an exciting several months ahead of them.

They are led by head coach Barry Westman with assistant coaches Tom Devaney, Shirley Westman and Jordan Ariss.

Last year, the women’s Falcons curling team won the 2015 OCAA Provincial Championships in Peterborough, Ontario. They won over second place Humber Hawks in a close 8-6 final. The 2015 victory was their second in a row, following their OCAA win in 2014. The men also put up a strong effort in the 2015 campaign, taking home the bronze medal at the previous year’s OCAA Championship.

This year, the Falcons have several things to consider. With both the men’s and women’s teams recognized provincially as being top-tier, quality teams, there is an additional element of pressure leading into this year’s playoffs.

“There’s some pretty big tournaments coming up for our men and women’s teams, that’s for sure,” Westman noted.

While the Falcons have only played two events in the 2016 year at the Bonspiel, held on Friday Jan. 15 to the 16 at Humber College and the following week being held on Saturday Jan. 23 at Niagara College. The OCAA Championships are coming up quickly, starting on Thursday. Feb. 11, 2016 and going through until Sunday Feb. 14. This year, the Championships will be held at Confederation College in Thunder Bay, ON.

When asked about the team’s chances going into the playoff portion of the season, Coach Westman was optimistic.

“This team has a track record of success and we don’t expect any less going into this tournament. We have some great new additions to the team this season as well as our veteran players we can count on. We’ve played some of the best teams we expect to see at Confederate so we’re prepared.”

While the OCAA Provincial Championships are prestigious enough, the Falcons have an extra little incentive to come out strong. It was announced in late 2015 that Fanshawe had won their bid to host the 2016 CCAA National Curling Championships, where the best collegiate teams in Canada compete for the national title. The tournament will consist of both eight men’s and women’s teams. Fanshawe will be hosting the event at the Highland Curling Club at 1922 Highland Heights in London from March 23 to 26. It will be the first time Fanshawe has hosted a CCAA National Championship in any sport since the 2004 CCAA Soccer Championships.

“We’re definitely excited for it,” men’s skip Kelly Schuh commented. “Competition is fun, it challenges you, and we welcome the challenge.”

While the men’s and women’s team will both be granted an automatic spot in the tournament as the host school, Westman and his teams do not intend to take that benefit as a reason to slow down their momentum.

“While it’s nice not to have to always be watching the standings, especially in the final matches, wondering if your team is going to make it in, we’re not letting that change our approach. Our objective is to win, and it doesn’t matter to us where we’re seeded. We go into every match with the intention of winning, regardless of where we play or whom we play against.”