CREDIT: CCAA
Fanshawe’s women’s curling team won back-to-back national championships by beating NAIT 8-5 in the CCAA National Championship game. The men’s curling team came home with a bronze medal.

The Fanshawe women's curling team was crowned 2013 CCAA National Champions on March 23. The women defeated host NAIT College in the gold medal final 8-5. The Falcon women have now won back to back National Championships.

“The girls and myself really displayed how important teamwork is and sportsmanship is all week long and really displayed all the work we put in this season,” said skip Jordan Ariss.

The team finished first in the round robin tournament with a record of 6-1. They lost their fourth game 6-3 against the MacEwan Griffins from Edmonton, but didn't let the loss affect their play in the games to follow.

Ariss said their focus on was on the final round robin game. “Our last round robin game was super important to get the bye to the gold medal game. It was close all the way through, so it was nice to pull off that win.”

The girls faced the NAIT Ooks in the finals, a team that also finished 6-1 in the round robin, and defeated MacEwan in the semis.

The final matchup was a close one. For Ariss, nerves took over when she first stepped out on the ice to face the home team.

“I was a wreck; I talked to our athletic manager (Nathan McFadden) before I went on the ice and he completely calmed me down and pumped me up. Once I got on the ice and throwing, I was back to where I should have been. But, definitely going into that game, I was really, really nervous.”

The Falcons had a slow start but battled through to pull off the win.

“It was shaky at first, we chose to take hammer, which means lastrock advantage in the first end and we blanked the first. We retained hammer in the second, and we had a really unfortunate miss late in the end. They ended up stealing two, which was nerve-racking. We bounced back hard with a three in the third and never really looked back,” said Ariss.

The Falcons scored multiples when they had last-rock advantage and only gave up singles when NAIT had hammer, resulting in an 8-5 win.

“It was close, and I was really surprised that they quit as early as they did being down three in such an important game. I thought for sure they would go hard until the end, but they shook early, which was great for us,” stated Ariss.

The Falcons had three members named to the Championship All- Star team: Ariss, second Kaitlyn Knipe and lead Shannon Kee.

“It was based on votes from the others athletes based on our play throughout the week, so it was really nice to be recognized that we did play well all week long,” said Ariss with a smile.

The Fanshawe men's curling team also represented Ontario at the National Championships. The men finished the round robin with a record of 5-2, earning them a spot in the semi-finals.

It was a heartbreaking game for the men; they lost 9-8 in an extra end versus MacEwan, and took home the bronze medal.

“It was close, for sure. The semifinal game could've gone either way: it went to an extra end. They all played so well, and unfortunately it just didn't work out for them,” said Ariss.

The four-day tournament took place at Edmonton's Avonair Curling Club and featured eight men's and women's teams from across the country.