Portage la Prairie, Man. - After securing a bronze medal at the OUA championships, the Guelph Gryphons jumped on a plane and headed west to Manitoba looking to come up with a similar performance at the U SPORTS / Curling Canada Curling Championship. Competing against the best university teams from across the country, the Gryphons had a great week that ended with them just narrowly missing podium. Thanks to a big push late in round robin, the Gryphons were able to punch their ticket to the final four before falling 11-6 to the Alberta Golden Bears in the bronze medal match.

Having made their way to Portage la Prairie, which sits roughly 85 kilometers west of Winnipeg, the team of skip Dylan Niepage, third Nathan Marshall, second Samuel Guilbeault and lead Ryan Yee took to the ice on Wednesday to get their national tournament underway. Dealing with a tough start to their schedule that saw them take on arguably the top three favourites to win the whole thing in their first three games, Guelph, despite their best efforts, were unable to get off to the start they were hoping for.

In their opening game, the Gryphons took on the 2019-20 OUA champion Laurier Golden Hawks. Although trailing 4-0 early, the Gryphons worked their way back in to the contest, trimming the Hawk's lead to 5-4 after six ends. In the end though, Laurier managed to pull away for a 10-5 victory. 

After falling to the Alberta Golden Bears and the Dalhousie Tigers in their next two games, the Gryphons record dropped to 0-3. However, the slow start did not faze Guelph at all. Knowing they would need to string together multiple wins going into competition on Friday, the Gryphons did exactly that. Defeating the Regina Cougars 9-5 and then the Memorial Sea-Hawks 11-4, the Guelph foursome had a perfect day pulling themselves back in to the playoff picture.

Following a Saturday morning loss to the hosting Brandon Bobcats, the Gryphons went in to the final draw of round robin play needing to defeat the Brock Badgers and also have Alberta down Regina to make the playoffs. Taking care of the only part they could control, Guelph scored two points in both the 5th and 7th ends, and then stole single points in both the 8th and 9th to help secure a 7-5 victory over Brock. Meanwhile, the Golden Bears did the Gryphons a big favour defeating Regina 8-5, sending Guelph to the semi-finals.

As Sunday morning rolled around, the Gryphons would find themselves up against Laurier again with a spot in the gold medal game on the line. Guelph got off to a great start against the undefeated Golden Hawks. After Laurier blanked the opening end, the Gryphons stole single points in the 2nd and 3rd to take an early 2-0 advantage. Tied 2-2 after five ends of play, the Gryphs scored one in the 6th to take a 3-2 lead. However, from there Laurier used tremendous shot making to take control of the match and down Guelph 8-4. 

Later in the afternoon, Guelph returned to the ice for the bronze medal game against the Alberta Golden Bears. Despite surrendering three points in the first end, the Gryphons continued to battle, and kept the game close late. With just two ends to play, the score sat 7-6 in favour of Alberta. Using the last rock, the Golden Bears scored two in the 9th and then stole another two in the 10th as the Gryphons tried to find a way to score three.

For the Gryphons, the 4th place finish at nationals serves as a strong way to cap off a tremendous 2019-20 season, that they will look to build off of when next year begins.
 

Final Standings:

Gold- Laurier Golden Hawks

Silver- Dalhousie Tigers

Bronze- Alberta Golden Bears

4th- Guelph Gryphons

5th- Regina Cougars

6th- Brandon Bobcats

7th- Memorial Sea-Hawks

8th- Brock Badgers
 

Individual Awards:

First Team All-Canadian:

Skip- Matthew Hall, Laurier Golden Hawks

Third- John Willsey, Laurier Golden Hawks

Second- Jeffrey Meagher, Dalhousie Tigers

Lead- Graham Singer, Laurier Golden Hawks

Second Team All-Canadian:

Skip- Matthew Manuel, Dalhousie Tigers

Third- Chris Kennedy, Alberta Golden Bears

Second- Andrew Gittis, Alberta Golden Bears

Lead- Glenn Venance, Alberta Golden Bears

Fox 40 Coach of the Year:

Anthony Purcell, Dalhousie Tigers

R.W. Pugh Fair Play Award:

Nick Lemieux, Brock Badgers