ACAC Curling Championship Roundup
by ACAC Sports Writer Curtis J. Phillips
Flipping a coin, it's a 50-50 chance that you will either get heads or tails.
In the sport of curling, they have red rocks for one team and yellow for the other.
Here, the odds are different as it requires skill, more so than luck, to see what colour will prevail.
At the 2018-2019 Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference Curling Championships held at Olds Curling Rink and hosted by the Olds College Broncos, there were six medal games held Sunday.
What are the odds which coloured rocks would prevail as a winner.
Due to this scenario, the matchups have only the gold and bronze medals counting at the end each match.
In the men's gold medal match it was defending champion Concordia University of Edmonton Thunder beating NAIT Ooks 5-2 on Sheet 2. Thunder were throwing red.
Yellow 0 Red 1
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| Concordia University of Edmonton 2019 ACAC Men's Curling Champions |
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| MacEwan University Griffins, 2019 ACAC Women's Curling Champions |
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| NAIT Ooks, 2019 ACAC Mixed Curling Champions |
In the bronze medal men's game Lakeland College Rustlers, throwing red, scored an 8-5 decision against the Red Deer College Kings on Sheet 5.
Yellow 0 Red 2
Mixed team gold on Sheet 4 went to NAIT Ooks, yellow rocks, dominating the Rustlers 7-3.
Yellow 1 Red 2
Over on Sheet 6, the Red Deer College Queens had the colour yellow, sweeping past University of Alberta Augustana Vikings 7-3 for mixed team bronze
Yellow 2 Red 2
Two games remained.
Women's team gold would find MacEwan Griffins, yellow rocks, coming back from a 5-0 deficit after five ends to beat University of Alberta Augustana Vikings 8-5 on Sheet 3 with handshakes of congratulations at 12:21 p.m.
Yellow 3 Red 2
Meanwhile on Sheet 1 the women's bronze medal match was still underway with NAIT Ooks head-to-head with the Red Deer College Queens.
Fans at home, and those watching on ACACTV, where if you listened closely you could hear fans talking strategy in the background, would have to wait another 27 minutes with the Ooks claiming bronze with an 8-7 extra ends finish.
You want to know what rocks they were throwing.
Red.
Yellow 3 Red 3.
The NAIT Ooks are the only school to bring home a gold (Mixed) silver (Men) and bronze (Women) medal.
Lakeland College is the only other school to capture two medals with silver (Mixed) and bronze (men).
Thunder are the first men's team repeat champion since the Red Deer College Kings did it in 2010-2012.
It is MacEwan's fifth gold medal in women's ACAC curling which commenced in 1964-67 after which there was a six-year hiatus with the sport returning in 1971-1972.
"The girls are very resilient, mentally tough, never say die," said Griffins head coach Tom Kitagawa in an interview with Jefferson Hagen, Sports Information Officer. "We were down 5-0 and came back to win. When a team does that, that really shows a lot of mental strength, not just 'OK, we've lost this one,' and kind of cave. We just kept plugging away, plugging away."
Ooks mixed team gold breaks a drought whereas last time they had won that banner was in 2003-2004. This marks their ninth mixed team banner.
The Edmonton school has also amassed an incredible 17 ACAC men's titles and 14 women's titles to date.
Up next is the 2018-2019 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association Curling Championships to be held Mar. 15-19, 2019 in Fredericton, NB.