UBC Okanagan Heat’s Justin Nillson remains in the hunt for a playoff berth going into today’s final two round-robin draws of the CIS men’s curling championship at the Kelowna Curling Club.
Nillson and his host rink of lead Cam Mahler, second Luke Cooke and third Colton Costa — after a pair of wins on Monday — are 2-3 and in a position to nail down one of two semifinal spots still available.
The UBCO rink will meet the Brock University Badgers (2-3) of St. Catharines, Ont. in the 1 p.m. draw at the KCC, while Nillson and crew are scheduled to take on Dalhousie Tigers (1-4) of Halifax in the final preliminary draw beginning at 6 p.m.
The top four teams will advance to Wednesday’s semifinals beginning at 9 a.m. for the right to play in the championship match at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
Following two losses on opening day of the eight-team national playdown, the Nillson foursome defeated the University of Waterloo Warriors 8-3 with deuces in the second, fifth and seventh ends. UBCO evened its record with an 8-7 victory over the St. Mary’s Huskies of Halifax, while falling to 2-3 by losing 13-2 to unbeaten (5-0) Alberta Golden Bears’ Thomas Scoffin of Edmonton.
Meanwhile, Scoffin and the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks of Waterloo guaranteed themselves a berth in Wednesday’s semifinals with their perfect records through five draws.
The University of Victoria Vikes, skipped by Corey Chester, sits at 4-1, while the Brock Badgers are tied with UBCO at 2-3. Waterloo is at 1-4 and St. Mary’s is winless in five matches.
In the women’s eight-team playdown, the two pre-championship favourites — Corryn Brown of the Thompson Rivers WolfPack and Kelsey Rocque of the Alberta Pandas — sit atop the standings going into today’s last two round-robin draws with 4-1 records.
Brown and the TRU rink of lead Ashley Nordin, second Samantha Fisher and third Erin Pincott are scheduled to play the Brock Badgers (1-4) at 1 p.m. today, while Alberta takes on 2-3 Wilfrid Laurier.
At 6 p.m., Thompson Rivers and defending-champion Alberta will meet each other in what is expected to be a battle for first place in round-robin play.
The women’s semifinal are also scheduled for Wednesday beginning at 9 a.m. , while the championship will be decided starting at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
Both the men’s and women’s champions will represent Canada at the 2017 World University Games in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
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