After the Women’s team nabbed gold and the Men’s earned silver during last year’s CCAA Curling National Championships, the Fanshawe Falcons are hosting the 2016 tournament and the Highland Curling Club.
Kelly Schuch, the skip for Fanshawe’s Men’s team, says there are many benefits to playing the championships on home ice.
“We get to sleep in our own beds. We don’t have to do as much travelling. We know the ice, we know the rocks. We can keep our routines and it helps,” he explains.
“We know to expect when we put the broom down. We know what to expect with the weights. You get that little bit of advantage over a team at the start of a game. You can come on them really, really fast and take advantage of a game early.
On the other hand, Christina Borgs, vice for the Women’s team, says that the ice is a little bit different. However, they are able to adapt to it. “We’ve played on it and we’ve seen it change a bit,” she says, “You feel better. You know what to wear, just little things like that.”
It’s been a strong start for both teams. The Men’s team started the tournament with a 6-4 loss to the Humber Hawks, but then came back with a 7-6 win over the Augustana Vikings and a 14-5 win over the NAIT Ooks. They began Day Two with a 10-4 win over the Mohawk Mountaineers.
Schuch says they will remain positive throughout the rest of the championships. “We all know that we can make the shots. It’s just a matter of keeping our confidence up and playing well.”
The Falcons’ Women’s Curling team had three victories on their first day. They beat the Niagara Knights 9-3, the NAIT Ooks 8-6 and the Holland Hurricanes 10-4.
Borgs says the team is confident about their streak, and hope to continue it through the rest of the championships.
“Of course we plan to win, hopefully,” she says with a laugh, “But you can always improve on communication team dynamics. I think right now we’re on such an upward climb and we can just keep going higher and higher, I think we got this.”
