(London, Ontario) – The Fanshawe Women's, Men's and Mixed Curling teams had a successful weekend at the OCAA Provincial Championships in Hamilton. The Falcons Women and Men won the gold medal, while the Mixed team finished with a silver.
The Women's team finished 3-1 after round robin play, good for first place. This set them up for a semi-final match against the Fleming Knights, which the Falcons won 7-3. In the Championship final, Fanshawe and Humber were tied at two with the Falcons having hammer going into the final end. Falcons skip Kaitlyn Poirier (Sioux Lookout, ON) made a draw on her final shot to give Fanshawe the win and the OCAA title. Poirier's teammates include vice Erin White (Chatham, ON), second Brianne Donegan (Listowel, ON), lead Lauren Massey (London, ON) and alternate Gabby McSloy (St. Thomas, ON). Massey was named to the OCAA All-Star team and Barry Westman is the Head Coach of the Falcons.
The Men finished the round robin in third place with a record of 3-2. In the semi-final, Fanshawe defeated Humber by a score of 5-2. In the final, the Falcons would take on the Sault Cougars and won 6-4 in an extra end to take home the 2019 OCAA Provincial Championship banner. The Men's team, coached by DJ Ronaldson, consists of skip Charlie Richard (Woodstock, ON), vice Tyler Twining (Owen Sound, ON), second Eric Jones (Mildmay, ON), lead Brady St Louis (St. Mary's, ON) and alternate Owen Tester (Fort McMurray, AB). Twining was named a First Team All-Star.
The Mixed team had a round robin record of 2-2 which put them in second place in the standings. The Falcons faced the Humber Hawks in the final, however fell 8-7. They would take home the OCAA silver medal. Fanshawe second Owen McMillan (Woodstock, ON) was named a Tournament All-Star.
With these two OCAA Championships, the Falcons have set a new Fanshawe Athletics record for most OCAA Championships in a season with eight (previous six in 1978-79, 1987-88, 2017-18). Both the Women and Men's teams advance to the CCAA National Curling Championships in Fredericton, New Brunswick from March 15-19. The Fanshawe Women's team are the reigning CCAA National Champions, while the Men's team were National finalists last season.