(FREDERICTON, N.B.) On a chilly Saturday in Fredericton, Day 3 of the Subway AUS Curling Championships took place at the Capital Winter Club.   

The women wrapped up round robin play in draw number five, which saw Dalhousie, Saint Mary’s, UPEI and Memorial clinch spots in the semi-finals.  

In the semi-finals, Dal and Saint Mary’s were victorious on the men’s side. The Tigers defeated the Memorial Sea-Hawks 4-3 in a close match that came down to the find stone. The Huskies would score a 7-5 victory over the host UNB REDS. 

In the women’s bracket Dal won big over the Huskies, 7-2 and UPEI was able to hold off a late push from Saint Mary’s to defeat the Huskies 7-5. 

Draw 5  

Women’s

UNB vs MUN  

Memorial clinched the final spot in the playoffs after defeating the host REDS 8-6. It was a game of steals with the Sea-Hawks stealing a single point in the third and fourth ends before scoring a huge three-point steal in the fifthend. The REDS were able to rally to tie the game thanks to a crucial missed final throw by MUN skip Mackenzie Mitchell in the eighthend and send it to an extra frame. Mitchell would redeem herself in the extra frame, delivering her team’s final stone into the house to take two points and the victory 8-6. 

SMU vs UPEI  

SMU punched their ticket to the semi-finals after handing the UPEI Panthers their first loss of the robin-robin. The Huskies were able to use a strong seventhend to score three points to jump ahead 7-3. But UPEI skip Rachel MacLean continued her strong play making a great shot in the eighthend to score two for the Panthers, sending the game to an extra end. In the extra frame the Huskies were able score a double to defeat the Panthers 9-7. 

Dal vs MTA 

The Mounties closed out round robin play on a high note, defeating the Dalhousie Tigers 6-3 to earn their first victory of the tournament. The Mounties were able to rally in the second half, scoring a double in the fifth followed by two consecutive steals of a point in the sixth and seventhend to defeat the Tigers.  

Semi-Finals  

Men’s

SMU vs UNB  

A big four-point score in the secondend allowed the Huskies to take an early lead that they wouldn’t let go of, defeating the REDS 7-5.   

UNB would do their best to make a comeback, scoring a single in the third end and then grabbing a steal of one in the fourth after SMU skip Aden Kavanaugh missed a draw for two which allowed UNB to close the gap to one.   

The teams would trade singles in the fourth and fifth ends before the Huskies would steal one from the REDS to take a 6-3 lead. A draw from UNB skip Jamie Stewart in the seventhend allowed the REDS to score a double to make it 6-5 Huskies heading into the last end.  

Kavanaugh and the Huskies were able to play a clean eighthand final end, scoring a point to close out the game and book their ticket to the finals. 

DAL vs MUN 

The Dalhousie Tigers are headed back to the AUS championship final after defeating the Memorial Sea-Hawks in a thrilling 4-3 battle.  

The Tigers opened the game doing a great job of scoring without the hammer, stealing points from the Sea-Hawks in the 2nd and 3rdends.   

The Sea Hawks would respond with a double in the secondend followed by a steal of one in the 6th end. The Tigers would respond with a single in the 7thend to tie the game at 3-3 heading into the final frame. 

Adam McEachren saved his best shot for last, making a tremendous draw which forced MUN skip Nathan Young to make a tough shot that he came up just short on. 

Women’s

MUN vs UPEI 

After losing their first match of the tournament earlier in the day the Panthers rebounded to defeat Memorial 5-3. 

The Panthers got off to a great start in this match scoring a double in the opening frame. The teams would trade singles in the next four ends before the Panthers were able to steal a single from the Hawks in the sixthend to take a 5-2 lead. The Sea-Hawks would score a single in the seventhend to make in 5-3 but were unable to close the gap in the final frame. 

Dal vs SMU 

The Tigers will have a chance to defend their AUS title after defeating the SMU Huskies 7-2. An opening end double followed by a triple steal in the secondend allowed the Tigers to take a commanding 5-0 lead over the Huskies to open the match. 

The Huskies would score a single in the 3rd end before stealing a point in the fourth end. The Tigers would finish off the game with a double in the sixthend which lead to the team’s shaking hands. 

“I thought we played a really strong first half,” said Dal skip Marin Callaghan. “We let that carry us through to the second half.”  

The final matches get underway Sunday morning at 9 a.m.

On the men’s side, the defending championship Tigers will face their cross-town rivel Saint Mary’s Huskies. 

The hometown UNB REDS will take on the Memorial Sea-Hawks in the bronze medal game.

On the women’s side, Dal will look to hold on to their AUS crown when they take on the red-hot Panthers. 

In the women’s bronze medal match, Memorial will face Saint Mary’s. 

Both bronze medal matches will determine the final AUS bid for the U SPORTS Championships, with three teams receiving an automatic bid to the tournament in Sudbury, March 15-19.

Source: Evan Richtsfeld for UNB Athletics